Rally to Eliminate International Student Health Fee
The BC government announced a new levy known as the International Students Health Fee (ISHF) that increased costs for international students to $75 per month/per person. This fee was implemented without consultation with students or residents in BC. The International Student Health Fee is unjust and imposes financial, social, and administrative burden in the British Columbia (BC) healthcare system. Join Migrant Students United and allies at a rally to demand concrete and meaningful action to eliminate the exclusive, unfair, and expensive International Students Health Fee. Read more HERE and RSVP for the rally HERE.
Join the Accountability Assembly on Seniors’ Care
On October 11 at 4.30pm, the BC Health Coalition, member organizations, and every BCHC supporter will be hosting Minister Adrian Dix at an Accountability Assembly as we hold the Minister accountable to his mandate. You can join us to make sure that Minister Dix has a concrete and actionable plan to tackle the seniors’ care crisis in BC. Register below to join the virtual Accountability Assembly.
Register for the Accountability Assembly
Your voice is powerful so let’s join together in demanding #BetterCareForSeniors!
Canadian Blood Services deal imperils voluntary public blood system and public trust | Canadian Health Coalition
The Canadian Blood Services has announced an agreement with Grifols, a huge for-profit international plasma company to pay Canadians for plasma. Plasma is a voluntarily donated public resource that can be manufactured into plasma products that are ounce-for-ounce worth more than gold. The Canadian Health Coalition fears the impending deal lacks legislated limits to protect the sustainability of the public system from encroachment by large-scale commercialization. Read more HERE.
Join the BCHC as our new Campaigner
We are looking for an experienced campaigner to fill a parental leave to help lead a vibrant and effective coalition working to strengthen public health care in B.C. The Campaigner is responsible for designing and delivering campaign, communications, and government relations strategies. We welcome and value the contributions individuals who identify as members of equity seeking communities bring to our organization, and encourage Indigenous people, people of colour, women, people identifying as LGBTQ2SI, members of visible minorities, immigrants, and people with disabilities to apply.Deadline to apply October 6. Read more HERE.
Public Health News, Updates & Resources
Spending more on private for-profit health care will not solve Ontario’s crisis. Investing in our public health care system, will Ontario’s provincial government released their plan to invest more public funds to expand the use of “existing private clinics covered by OHIP” and to “consider options” to increase “the number of OHIP-covered surgical procedures performed at independent health facilities.” While this may sound innocuous at first, it will have significant consequences for the future of Ontario’s health care system and could worsen the crisis we are currently facing.
Why Is BC Giving $27,000 to Family Doctors? Clearly the fee-for-service payment model in B.C. is problematic and the inability for almost one million people to find a family doctor is a crisis. The big question though, is what exactly is being solved by giving thousands of doctors around $27,000 apiece over four months? All sides freely admit that this will not change practices, how many patients doctors see, or improve anything at all for patients.
Nearly 200 Fraser Health jobs switching back to union positions The process of returning housekeeping and food-service worker roles to the Hospital Employees’ Union continues in B.C., with a handful of care homes in Fraser Health. The repatriation from private contract work to public system jobs will affect nearly 200 employees across Mission, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Coquitlam and Hope who had been employed by Compass but will now be employees of Fraser Health.
BCGEU reaches tentative agreement with province after weeks-long strike The largest union in B.C. said it has reached a new, tentative contract agreement with the province after seven months of negotiations and a two-week strike by public-service workers including community health workers who provide home support services to seniors at home.
Alternative Federal Budget 2023 CCPA urges the federal government to commit $500 million a year, for five years, to cover the operating cost of 250 new Community Health Centres across Canada. This 5-year, $2.5 billion investment would support “a local, comprehensive approach to neighbourhood well-being across the country”.