By Josée-Anne Spirito, PSAC North Regional Executive Vice-President
Many of us in the North often have to travel far from home to get medical care.
Sometimes we need specialized treatment, or the care we need simply isn’t available nearby. Those who leave their communities in the Northwest Territories for medical care often rely heavily on Alberta’s healthcare system. As a result, many of us know Alberta’s system well, and we have a major stake in its well-being.
When decisions affect healthcare in Alberta, we feel the consequences too, even though we have little influence over them. When the system is weakened, it affects our families, workers and communities.
That’s why Northerners — and our elected representatives — need to pay attention and ask questions when Alberta makes major changes to how people access healthcare.
The Alberta Health Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (No. 2), previously known as Bill 11, came into force at the start of September, establishing what Premier Danielle Smith’s government refers to as a “dual practice” system, under which physicians can practise within the public system while at the same time offering private, paid services. These changes pave the way for a two-tier,
American-style healthcare regime in the province.
Access to necessary healthcare should depend on what you need, not how much money you have.
A legal opinion obtained by the Canadian Health Coalition reinforces this core value, stating that this new Alberta law breaches the Canada Health Act’s requirements for universal, accessible and comprehensive healthcare, as well as its provisions prohibiting extra-billing and user charges.
Across Canada, different kinds of private care are often floated as a fix for healthcare systems that have been underfunded and understaffed for years. But directing public resources toward private, profit-driven healthcare rather than improving the healthcare system we all rely on can further strain the workers and resources our public system needs. Workers, families and
communities suffer. So if two-tier healthcare becomes normalized in Alberta, we should be concerned about what that means for the rest of the country.
The stakes are even higher for the North, where healthcare workers are already under constant pressure and expected to do more with less.
When governments don’t support healthcare, it gets harder to hire and keep the people our communities need. And when those workers leave, some communities may lose access to the only nearby healthcare.
Northerners are already making their voices heard about these and other related concerns. On Sept. 1, as Alberta was proceeding with Bill 11, activists in Yellowknife joined health and social justice groups across Canada for a National Day of Action for Public Health Care, urging the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act and safeguard public healthcare.
As Alberta moves to a two-tier system, people in the Northwest Territories need to know where our territorial government stands. We still haven’t heard what the GNWT is doing to make sure Northerners have fair access to the specialists and services we need.
Has our government considered whether these changes might affect wait times for NWT patients travelling to Alberta for care?
Has it explored whether they could increase what the NWT pays for care in Alberta, and the broader impacts this act could have on our own finances? What assurances has the GNWT sought that Northerners will continue to receive the care they need?
While we wait for answers, we need to make sure our representatives know that privatization and American-style healthcare are not the solutions. As Canadians, we are proud of universal healthcare, and that’s why we must stand together when it is at risk.
For Northerners, protecting public healthcare also means looking out for the systems we depend on in the provinces to the south. We deserve to know that when we have to leave home for care, we’ll get the treatment we need no matter how much money we have.
This column appeared in the Yellowknifer on October 2, 2026.