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May 22, 2003
Judge rules health authorities must meet in public
The decision - following legal action by HEU - should give BCNU lobbyists and other nurse activists much greater access to health authority meetings and decisions
BC’s health authorities must hold their meetings in public and British Columbians must be free to attend and observe, a BC Supreme Court judge says.
In a stunning rebuke to the secrecy policies followed by the authorities since they were appointed by the BC Liberals in December 2001, Judge M.D. Macauley ruled this week that the justification given by the authorities for their closed-door methods represented "a cynical favouring of the interest of the bureaucracy over that of the public, as well as a stunning disregard for the legislative intent" of the Health Authorities Act.
The judge said the law allows the health authorities to move in-camera only in "limited circumstances" and they must make a specific motion to do so.
The decision came in response to legal action initiated by the Hospital Employees’ Union. In a another significant victory, the judge ruled that HEU, as an organization representing thousands of health care employees, has the right to intervene on issues that deal with the proper functioning of the health care system.
The decision should give BCNU lobbyists and other activists much greater access to health authority meetings and decisions.
The judge ruled that whatever open meetings the health authorities have held periodically to receive public submissions do not fulfil their obligations to allow the public to attend their deliberations to observe debate and decision-making.
Congratulations to the HEU for initiating and succeeding with this significant legal decision.
For more information visit the HEU web site at www.heu.org.
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