The County of Brant Council decided not to join a new City-led Hospital Working Group during its regular council meeting on Tuesday, October 22, 2024.
While there is already a committee, titled the “Reimagine BCHS Committee,” that exists to oversee, update and seek input on the progress for the planning, construction, communication, fundraising and community impact concerns, related to the development of a new hospital system, during a City of Brantford Committee of the Whole Planning and Administration meeting, held on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, the City’s Council unanimously approved the creation of a separate community-based working group that would lead a grassroots campaign to help build the case for a new hospital facility.
According to the City’s resolution, the working group was to be composed of both elected officials and citizen representatives from the City of Brantford, County of Brant, Six Nations of the Grand River and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, as well as one representative from the Brant Community Healthcare System (BCHS).
In the City meeting, it was announced that Kevin Davis, Mayor for the City of Brantford, would initially chair the group, and Councillors Mandy Samwell and Richard Carpenter were both later elected by the Committee of the Whole to join Councillor McCreary as the City’s representatives.
As far as the other municipalities go, the plan was to have each community choose their own elected official representatives with two from the County, one from Six Nations and one from New Credit.
It was said that the working group, on top of building the case for a new hospital facility, would soon begin the process of engaging the community, lobbying various levels of government, organizing fundraising initiatives and performing a community needs assessment within each of the four communities affected.
During the County’s meeting on October 22, David Bailey, Mayor for the County of Brant, told councillors it was up to them whether or not they would join the new Brantford Hospital Working Group.
Bailey noted that prior to the passing of the City’s September 10 resolution, Mayor Davis had shown him what would be coming forward, asking the County Mayor what he thought and if he had any suggestions.
“He gave me a pen and I filled out the resolution as to what would make it better and I said, ‘equal representation’ with both mayors, and ‘it doesn’t matter how many councillors as long as it’s equal,’” said Bailey. “I made a couple of other changes to it which were very reasonable, and he [Davis] said, ‘I can do that.’ The next day at Council, he didn’t do it and it appeared the way you see it now with it being a Brantford committee without me being on it…it just says ‘Brant County representatives.’”
Having more context to the situation, County Councillor, Jennifer Kyle, asked how the Working Group would work with the existing Reimagine BCHS Committee and Bailey said it wouldn’t.
“There is no playing with the other and I was told that our [Reimagine BCHS] committee wants nothing to do with this,” responded Bailey. “… I was told by a member of that [Reimagine BCHS] managing committee, Mr. Emerson, not to go near it because it’s not what we want to do, and it’s not going to show the way we want to proceed with trying to find money to build the new hospital. All I can tell you is that everyone else has said no and we’re the last person at the party [to decide].”
With no other comments from the councillors, Councillor Kyle then moved an amendment to receive the information and respectfully decline the invite.
“If council was agreeable, I might add the amendment that we also send a response back declining the participation in this committee in favour of continuing on with Reimagine BCHS as the voice we want to be part of,” she said.
The amendment was then carried on a vote of 9-1, noting that Councillor Lukas Oakley was not present for the vote.
The vote to receive the information, as amended, was then carried unanimously.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
