The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal will hear a complaint alleging health care providers are discriminating against aboriginal residents in the Hazelton area by failing to provide an equitable level of service at the community's hospital.
The B.C. Ministry of Health, Northern Health Authority and the United Church Health Services Society are also named in the complaint, filed by Pauline Cole and Vernon Joseph on behalf of "local first peoples."
They claim discrimination on the grounds of race and ancestry by failing to provide the same levels of service at Wrinch Memorial Hospital in Hazelton as provided in other facilities in Northern Health's region.
The respondents had applied to dismiss the application, arguing in part that the complaint had no reasonable prospect of success.
However, in a reasons for decision issued Thursday, tribunal member Catherine McCreary said none of the three have submitted evidence of how the delivery of health care services to aboriginals is determined and how it compares to other areas in Northern Health's region and the province.
"It is not clear on what basis funding and service decisions are made," McCreary said. "The viability and the impact of the programs referred to by the respondents are matters that need to be determined after a full hearing and not on a preliminary basis."
A Ministry of Health spokesman said it "would be inappropriate to discuss this case before the tribunal has heard it and made their decision," and Northern Health officials declined to comment on the case Friday.
