As I park my car at Fort St. John’s hospital on a blustery July morning, the emergency room waiting area tells its own story. A mother bounces a feverish toddler on her knee while checking her watch. An elderly man with labored breathing sits patiently beside his worried wife. A young woman paces, occasionally grimacing and holding her side.
None of them know how long they’ll wait—a common frustration across Northern BC’s sprawling health region that covers nearly two-thirds of the province but serves just 7% of its population.
“We’ve been here three hours already,” whispers Elaine Wiebe, the elderly man’s wife. “We drove in from Fort Nelson because our clinic is closed. At least in Vancouver, they can check online to see wait times before they leave home.”
That reality—the disparity between health services in urban and rural communities—sits at the heart of a brewing controversy. Northern Health has officially ruled out implementing a live online emergency room wait time tool, despite mounting pressure from the BC Conservative Party and community advocates.
“Our current IT infrastructure simply cannot support this kind of real-time tracking system across our diverse facilities,” explains Northern Health spokesperson Eryn Collins during our interview at their Prince George headquarters. “We’re looking at estimated wait time ranges for specific facilities as an alternative, but a live dashboard isn’t feasible right now.”
The decision comes after BC Conservative leader John Rustad highlighted emergency room wait times during Question Period last month. Rustad pointed to Vancouver Coastal Health’s successful implementation of a real-time ER wait time tracker and asked why northern residents deserve less transparency.
“People living in remote communities often drive hours to reach an emergency room,” Rustad noted in a follow-up statement. “Knowing wait times before making that journey could literally save lives.”
The Canadian Institute for Health Information reports that northern BC residents face average ER wait times of 3.2 hours before initial physician assessment—nearly 45 minutes longer than provincial averages. For rural residents, that often comes after driving considerable distances on sometimes treacherous highways.
Dr. Nadine Caron, Northern Health board member and Canada’s first female First Nations general surgeon, acknowledges the frustration but emphasizes practical realities.
“Our emergency departments face unique staffing patterns and infrastructure challenges,” she explains as we walk through the University Hospital of Northern BC. “Some facilities have one physician covering both inpatient and emergency needs. Real-time tracking systems work best in predictable environments with dedicated ER staff—that’s not always our reality.”
Back in Fort St. John, I meet Diane Wilson, a local advocate who helped gather over 2,000 signatures on a petition requesting the wait time tool. We sit at a café where she pulls up Vancouver Coastal Health’s wait time dashboard on her phone.
“See how simple this is? I can check wait times at Vancouver General, Lions Gate, Richmond—all updating every few minutes,” Wilson demonstrates. “Northern communities deserve this basic level of service. It’s another example of rural health inequity.”
For many residents, the issue transcends convenience. I speak with Jordan Paquette, a forestry worker who drove his pregnant wife 90 minutes to Dawson Creek’s ER last winter during early labor complications, only to discover a four-hour wait upon arrival.
“We didn’t know if we should continue to Prince George instead,” Paquette recalls. “That uncertainty is terrifying when you’re already in a crisis.”
Northern Health points to their ongoing technology modernization plan, which includes a possible pilot program displaying estimated wait time ranges rather than real-time updates. The health authority has earmarked $1.8 million for technology improvements across its facilities in 2025-26, according to their latest service plan.
Dr. Ray Markham, executive director of the Rural Coordination Centre of BC, offers a nuanced perspective when I reach him by phone.
“These tools require sophisticated electronic medical record integration,” he explains. “Many northern facilities are still working with hybrid paper-digital systems. The intent is good, but implementation requires infrastructure that simply doesn’t exist yet in many communities.”
The BC Nurses’ Union, representing frontline staff, has expressed mixed feelings about wait time tools. While supporting transparency, they worry about potential misuse.
“These tools don’t distinguish between a minor injury and a life-threatening condition,” says regional representative Kelly McGregor. “We’ve seen instances where patients drive past the nearest ER seeking shorter wait times, sometimes delaying critical care.”
Indigenous leaders have also joined the conversation. Terry Teegee, Regional Chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations, emphasizes that technology alone won’t address northern healthcare gaps.
“Many Indigenous communities still lack basic primary care, let alone sophisticated tracking systems,” Teegee says. “We need to address root causes of healthcare inequality first.”
Dr. David Snadden, founding chair in rural health at UBC’s Northern Medical Program, suggests a middle path during our interview at UNBC’s campus.
“There are lower-tech solutions we could implement now,” he proposes. “Even a system that updates estimated wait times once or twice per shift would give northern residents valuable information while we develop more sophisticated infrastructure.”
As my reporting trip concludes, I witness a small but telling moment at Fort St. John’s hospital. A nurse emerges to update waiting patients, providing rough estimates of remaining wait times. Patients visibly relax—even those facing longer waits. The power of information, even imperfect information, is apparent.
Whether through high-tech dashboards or lower-tech solutions, northern residents clearly desire greater transparency in emergency care. As Northern Health continues its technology planning through 2025, the question remains whether rural communities will continue accepting a digital divide in healthcare information—or whether creative solutions might bridge the gap sooner.
For Elaine Wiebe and her husband, still waiting patiently in Fort St. John’s emergency room, the answer can’t come soon enough.
