Health CEO defends public process

Fraser Health Authority CEO defends its public process
By Dan Hilborn, Burnaby Now assistant editor
Published May 28, 2003

The head of the Fraser Health Authority is downplaying the impact of a scathing B.C. Supreme Court judgment that criticizes local health boards for their failure to hold public meetings.
Barry Forbes, CEO of the region, said staff will review the judgment, however, he doubts that much will change because, unlike some of the other five health boards in British Columbia, the FHA does hold public meetings.
"I'm here to acknowledge we probably made some mistakes in the early days, but we've been changing our practices," Forbes told a small group of reporters on a teleconference call late last Friday afternoon. "I think we've made efforts to be more open."
While Forbes confirmed that the FHA will hold a minimum of four public meetings this year - two have already been held - he faced a barrage of questions about which items are discussed behind closed doors.
"There are matters that are brought to our attention that we are asked to keep in confidence," Forbes said. "If it's a broader issue across the province, we may be asked to keep it in confidence. On others, such as commercial transactions, release could be detrimental to the position of the health authority."
When asked if only matters pertaining to legal, land or labour issues are discussed behind closed doors, Forbes said: "I can't make that commitment ... because there are other matters that we are given direction on."
The judgment, which was handed down last Wednesday, was especially critical of the large number of closed door meetings of local health authorities.
"The board either misunderstood or ignored their obligation to hold public meetings except in limited circumstances," B.C. Supreme Court justice M.D. Macaulay said in his reasons for judgment.
The judge also took the unusual step of refuting comments from one Vancouver Coastal health board representative who said the premature release of 'controversial' information can discourage innovative planning.
"That statement shows 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 bill that created the health boards, said the judge.
Forbes refused to distance himself from the statement that the release of 'controversial' information can be detrimental. "I can't speak to what the person intended in their comments," he said. "I can't speak to that at all, but it's not valid for us. We are interacting in many ways with the public and we've increased the number of public meetings."
The former Simon Fraser Health Board, which was amalgamated with the Fraser Valley health region by the B.C. Liberal government, used to hold monthly public meetings that allotted time for statements from the public. Typically, a short closed session was held at the conclusion of each public meeting. The two public health board meetings held this year have been in Abbotsford and Pitt Meadows.
The FHA is the largest health region in the province, serving more than 1.3 million people from Burnaby to Boston Bar.