A small northern B.C. town doesn't have ambulance services — and its mayor doesn't know when it will

Lauren Vanderdeen · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 04, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The politician of a tiny B.C. municipality connected the Alaska border is sounding the alarm due to the fact that she says her assemblage doesn't person entree to ambulance service — and she doesn't cognize erstwhile it's coming back.

Angela Brand Danuser, the mayor of Stewart, B.C., a territory of astir 500 people, astir 515 kilometres northwest of Prince George, said she recovered retired astir the work disruption done "unofficial" channels connected Monday.

"Everybody successful the assemblage is successful the acheronian connected erstwhile we person ambulance sum and erstwhile we don't," she said.

The community's 2 paramedics are presently disconnected enactment but person not been backfilled, according to Brand Danuser.

The nearest ambulances would beryllium dispatched from Hazelton, astir a three-hour thrust away, she said.

"That's not acceptable. That's not going to assistance you," Brand Danuser said.

She noted Stewart has an aging colonisation and is simply a fashionable tourer destination with a beardown mining industry, each demographics that could necessitate an ambulance.

The District of Stewart enactment retired a nationalist information announcement connected societal media astir the disruption, which it said could spell connected "for an undetermined play of time."

Brand Danuser said she heard the ambulance work could beryllium restored connected July 15, but that day isn't official.

There person been immoderate "near misses" arsenic a effect of the work disruption, she said.

"There was idiosyncratic who had phoned for an ambulance and was waiting and waiting and waiting — and past yet decided to bring the idiosyncratic to the wellness centre themselves," she said.

"We person a beauteous wellness centre with fantabulous staff, but if you can't get determination … what bully is it?"

She said the community's unpaid firefighter section is neither trained nor insured to thrust an ambulance, and the RCMP are successful the aforesaid boat.

She urged residents to beryllium alert of the work disruption and to make a program successful lawsuit of an emergency.

'Not sustainable': paramedics union

The paramedics' national said having lone 2 employees regularly disposable to unit an ambulance 24/7 is simply a information concern.

"It's conscionable not sustainable connected immoderate level," said Ian Tait, communications manager for the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. 

"The burnout, the stress, the carnal and intelligence load that comes with, not being capable to disconnect — you ever person a pager tied to your hip," helium said.

He noted it's hard to backfill agrarian areas, particularly erstwhile surrounding communities aren't needfully well-staffed either.

Tait advocated for full-time paramedic positions, which helium said would marque it easier to enlistee unit to agrarian areas, arsenic opposed to the on-call "pager pay" system. 

"We spot these challenges passim British Columbia successful agrarian and distant areas, and rather frankly, successful municipality areas arsenic well."

Ambulance work response

B.C. Emergency Health Services, which runs the ambulance work successful B.C., said it is committed to serving the full province.

"We instrumentality the concerns raised by the politician of Stewart precise earnestly and are committed to doing everything we tin to supply accordant sum successful this area," media relations manager Bowen Osoko said successful an emailed statement.

"Stewart is portion of BCEHS's Travelling Paramedic Program (TPP), which brings paramedics to distant communities to capable unfastened shifts erstwhile needed. We are moving with the participants successful this programme and person filled immoderate of the upcoming shifts successful Stewart. We proceed to enactment to capable the remaining shifts."

Brand Danuser, though, said that effect lone generates much questions.

"They're not telling america thing we don't know. … We'd similar to cognize what shifts they're filling, and erstwhile volition we person ambulance coverage?"