First Nations representatives were upset and frustrated with the Yukon Party’s conduct in the legislature on Thursday afternoon.

Their anger centred around a unanimous vote in the House to move the Health Authority Act directly to third reading, followed by a vote to pass Bill 38.

But the Yukon Party had other ideas – choosing not to send the bill ahead.

An angry crowd, with some people crying, spilled out of the visitors’ gallery.

Three First Nations luminaries addressed reporters.

Pauline Frost, the chair of the Chiefs Committee on Health and the chief of Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, led the vocal charge against the official Opposition.

“Certainly, I am disappointed. I think the intention was to try to get some consensus moving this forward because it’s so valuable to Yukoners in the fact that we are trying to reform something that has not been working for decades, for Yukoners,” Frost said.

“And in particular, Yukon First Nations. The objective today was to try to get this through. And the reason for that is the chiefs next week are all in Ottawa, meeting at the Prime Minister’s Forum.

“It’s something that we see as critical as well, because some of the critical objectives we’re speaking about is health transformation, toxic drug overdoses, pressures that we’re seeing in our society,” said Frost, who was the Liberals’ Health minister from 2016 to 2021.

“So there was an opportunity to move this along. There’s no reason why it couldn’t.

“The idea of the intention of saying you have to meet the 24-hour deadline is not acceptable. And we did (postpone) the meeting with the prime minister and all of the cabinet ministers in Ottawa so that we can stay here and and support this legislation.”

Stephen Mills, the co-chair of the Health Transformation Advisory Committee, said the legislation “is an example about how to do it right.

“Issues came up. L’AFY (L’Association franco-yukonnaise) raised some concerns. They were addressed, and we were part of finding the solution,” Mills said.

“I’m so glad because it was a partnership between First Nations, the Yukon government, the labour organizations, workers, we have done all staff meetings for the last month and a half and we have had all staff meetings with Yukon government employees and Yukon Hospital Corporation employees,” Mills added.

More than 400 people have participated. “Not one employee has said this is a terrible idea.”

An emotional Mills continued, “What this was about was all of us allowing First Nations and all of us a chance to see this momentous occasion.

“I reached out to the the leader of the Yukon Party (Thursday) and said we were the ones that asked that this get brought (Thursday), because we have other meetings, that we cannot be here.”

Mills witnessed the Yukon land claim legislation passed in Parliament in the early ’90s.

He was there as a negotiator when the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act legislation was passed in Parliament.

“This was my chance to be here on one of the most important pieces of legislation for all Yukoners to improve health outcomes and decrease the amount of deaths that our First Nation people and other Yukons are having,” Mills said.

“We’ve said all along that this was not about politics. And today we did see the politics.

“The Yukon Party took that opportunity away from First Nation chiefs and people that have fought for this first for so long, so really disappointing.”

He added he is “absolutely confident” that it will pass the legislature next week.

“We are just really disappointed that we cannot be witness to that.”

Ta’an Kwäch’än Council Chief Amanda Leas also spoke to the assembled crowd.

“I think the amount of people here is an absolute testament to the collaboration that went into this act.

“We are here to ensure a better tomorrow for all Yukoners. And it’s sad to see this didn’t pass,” Leas said.

“I will be one of the few chiefs that will be here next week. So I do hope I can be an audience to something so tremendous and so needed for all Yukoners.”

Those listening cheered after the statements.

Speaking with reporters afterward, Opposition Leader Currie Dixon defended his party’s position on the vote.

“Around 10 o’clock (Thursday) morning, the Liberals informed us that they would be requesting unanimous consent to bypass the normal rules of the legislative assembly for the procedure of bills,” he said.

“We let them know right at 10 o’clock that we would not be granting unanimous consent because we wanted to follow the normal procedure. Despite that, they decided to carry on with requesting the unanimous consent and inviting a gallery full of people to come in and presumably exert some pressure on us to change our opinion on that.”

The rules of the assembly state that when a bill is tabled, it needs to sit on the floor for one day, he noted.

“(Thursday) afternoon, we’ll review the bill to ensure it meets the standard of the legislature and consistent with the amendments that were made in committee as a whole,” Dixon said.

“And if they call it on Monday for debate, then we’ll debate it then.”

He was asked about the chiefs being in the House to witness what they thought would be a historic event.

“They were told that would not happen (Thursday),” Dixon said.

“So if the Liberals told them otherwise, I can’t explain why that would be.

“I can’t speak to any particular chiefs’ travel schedules, but we have rules of the assembly that we will follow. and we’ll debate and discuss that bill in the normal course of proceedings.”

NDP Leader Kate White said, “I think what we saw, unfortunately, was the conservatives playing politics with something that was really important, especially for the folks in the gallery.

“It was disappointing, and I wish we could have had that opportunity to say thank you and talked about why we supported the Health Authority Act and just thanking people for the work that they did, and we’ll have that conversation next week. But unfortunately, they won’t all be able to be in the gallery.”

Cabinet communications staff sent out a statement after the verbal melee.

“We’re incredibly disappointed that the Yukon Party has once again delayed advancement of the Health Authority Act in the Yukon Legislative Assembly.

“As Chief Frost and Stephen Mills so eloquently put it, today the Yukon Party reminded us that they’re still the party that is unwilling to work with First Nations governments,” the statement said.

“We completely appreciate that change takes time and thorough consideration, and we’ve dedicated significant effort to both during this process.

“At this point, there is no valid reason to delay third reading of the Health Authority Act today. The bill, as well as amendments, were debated at length over the last several weeks.”

The bill has been reprinted and tabled, and the government ensured the opposition parties had received an electronic copy at 10:23 a.m. Thursday, followed by a hand-delivered paper copy at 11:10 a.m., the statement added.

The concerns raised by the opposition have been addressed through amendments and in committee of the whole, the statement added.

“Over the past weeks, the legislative assembly has debated the bill extensively, and made a number of minor amendments based on these discussions ....

“With a gallery packed with our partners on this journey ... it was disappointing to yet again see the Yukon Party’s obstructive tactics.

“Throughout this process, we’ve seen the Yukon Party do everything in their power to delay, misinform and drag out the conversation,” communications staff added.

“We also have significant concerns about behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts by the Yukon Party to obstruct the process.

“We’re so close to getting this bill across the finish line, and yet the Yukon Party is content to delay efforts to strengthen our health care system and address systemic racism that has, for too long, directly impacted the health and well-being of Yukon First Nations and Indigenous peoples.”

See related story.