B.C. Emergency Health Services needs to do more to address sexual harassment and morale: report

A review into the internal working culture of B.C. Emergency Health Services (BCEHS) has found numerous shortfalls, including reports of sexual harassment and low morale.

The report, which was completed in July 2022 by Cathe Gaskell, an external consultant with the United Kingdom-based Results Company, was publicly released on Friday by BCEHS, the provincial agency responsible for ambulance services.

The release came about as a result of a Freedom of Information request and some of the report is redacted to protect the privacy of third parties.

The report's findings — which include that some employees had a "low level of awareness" about diversity, equality and inclusion — have led the organization to announce they're making widespread internal changes.

Calls for change have become louder at the organization over the past three years, especially over staffing shortages, burnout and a strained response to emergencies like the 2021 heat dome.

"This review found, despite the many challenges that staff shared, staff were committed to team working and providing a quality service to their communities," the report stated. "There was a high level of goodwill expressed around culture change."

The report contains multiple recommendations for BCEHS's top brass, including a review of its workplace training and a need for more data collection when it comes to sexuality and ethnicity.

Urban-rural divide

The report stated that sexualized comments and "gender-based derogatory banter" were tolerated in certain BCEHS teams, which made it harder for some staff to report sexual harassment.

"Some staff believed managers may be complicit in protecting friends and that a 'boys club' was still in existence that protected predators," according to the report.

Implementing a gender equality strategy was one of the major recommendations in the report.

It also found that staff had a perception that there was a "two-tier" system — both between full-time and part-time staff, and those working in rural areas and urban areas.

"It was alleged that full-time, urban-based teams of paramedics, at times, saw themselves as superior to colleagues working in less populated areas," the report stated.

Gaskell spoke to multiple paramedics and drew from internal BCEHS policies for the study.

BCEHS promises changes

The agency said it has already begun improving its hiring practices and creating training strategies in response to the report.

Leanne Heppell, chief ambulance officer for the BCEHS, said leaders are listening to frontline employees.

Heppell acknowledged that the large organization had room to improve and modernize its services in order to reflect B.C.'s diversity, and they would continue hiring in order to avert staffing issues.

"We've been focusing on trying to make sure our culture is more diverse," she told CBC News. "Certainly, we have a lot more to do to ensure that we are providing equitable services for all cultures and for women as well."

When asked why the report took a year to release, Heppell said that BCEHS had to be mindful of the impact on employees who spoke out, and that they wanted to create internal recommendations before making the results public.

Gaskell's report also contained recommendations for the Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., the union that represents about 4,500 ambulance paramedics and emergency dispatchers across the province.

A union spokesperson declined an interview request Saturday. However, they said the report's allegations are very concerning and that the union plans to work with the BCEHS to understand and address the issues of harassment and workplace culture.

"[The allegations] are obviously deeply concerning, and not reflective of the good work we do and the majority of paramedics, dispatchers, our service and profession," Ambulance Paramedics of B.C. president Troy Clifford said in an emailed statement on Sunday.