Marianne Ryan, Alberta's Ombudsperson (Office of the Alberta Ombudsman)

By Josh Hall

Alberta’s Ombudsperson cannot investigate AHS over EMS dispatch consolidation

Nov 28, 2021 | 12:54 PM

RED DEER, AB – Alberta’s ombudsperson says it’s simple: she can’t legally investigate a complaint by four municipalities against the consolidation of EMS dispatch.

The City of Red Deer, as well as Calgary, Lethbridge and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, filed a complaint with the office of the Alberta Ombudsman last month.

In a release put out late Friday, the office states that the Ombudsman Act authorizes the Ombudsperson to investigate administrative decisions of government ministries and many related bodies, but the Act specifically prohibits her from investigating decisions of Alberta Health Services (AHS).

“My office thoroughly analyzed the complaint and confirmed that the decision to consolidate ambulance dispatch services was indeed made by AHS. While many government-related bodies fall under my jurisdiction, AHS is not one of them,” stated Marianne Ryan, Alberta’s Ombudsperson.

“In fact, the Ombudsman Act specifically states that my powers of investigation do not apply to health authorities. My ability to investigate AHS decisions would require a change in legislation. While the issue being complained about clearly affects many Albertans, I am bound by my governing legislation to only investigate matters that are clearly within my jurisdiction.”

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The release explains further that as an independent Officer of the Legislature, the Alberta Ombudsman responds to complaints of unfair treatment by provincial government authorities, municipalities, the Patient Concerns Resolution Process of Alberta Health Services, health professions and other designated professional organizations.

Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston spoke to Pattison Media on Saturday morning, sharing that Ryan called him and the three other mayors personally to inform them of her statement before it was released.

Johnston says he’s very grateful for the call, but added that it came as a surprise to him learning that the Ombudsperson cannot investigate AHS.

“We’re disappointed, but she was very thorough in telling us that AHS isn’t a body she can go in and investigate,” says Johnston. “She expressed a lot of empathy with our situation, but on our end, it’s not our only iron in the fire.”

Johnston references a recent resolution from The City of Red Deer on this matter, put forward at the recent Alberta Municipalities (formerly AUMA) convention. It received 95 per cent support.

He also says they’ve reached out to Health Minister Jason Copping directly. Copping was not health minister when consolidation took place last January.

“I’m optimistic we might get some mileage with the minister. The reality is we’re getting more and more incidents of delays. We would not have gotten 95 per cent support on the floor (of Alberta Municipalities) if the vast majority of municipalities weren’t being affected by this change,” Johnston added.

“The spirit of the complaint we made to the Ombudsman was that we didn’t feel our opinion and input was fairly or reasonably considered. We’re asking the minister to please reopen the dialogue, and hopefully he’ll give us an audience.

“We want what we think is equitable and what makes sense for not just Red Deer, but the entire province.”