In a rare display of cross-party cooperation, Skeena MLA Claire Rattee invited the provincial Minister of Health to the Northwest on Thursday November 13 — a gesture that underscored a shared urgency to confront the region’s deepening health-care challenges.
The Provincial Minister of Health Josie Osborne arrived in Terrace on Thursday for a tour shaped not by politics, but by a mutual desire to find solutions. For many in the community, the moment stood out: two women in government, both driven by the need for progress, setting aside political differences for the good of the region.
The visit comes after months of growing concern from nurses and frontline workers who warn that staffing shortages, mental-health pressures, and the toxic drug crisis are taking an unprecedented toll on northern hospitals.
During her stop, the minister toured Kitimat and the Seven Sisters mental-health facility, meeting staff and hearing directly about capacity strains and community needs. She also met with the First Nations Health Authority and Indigenous partners, stressing the importance of culturally safe, long-term approaches to care.
Rattee’s invitation — and the minister’s response — marked a tone of cooperation many in the region say is overdue. Both leaders emphasized that northern communities have been hit especially hard, and improving access to care will require genuine partnership and accountability.
The minister said her visit was about gaining a firsthand understanding of both the gaps and the progress in local health care — and about seeing for herself the realities northern communities face every day.