Skeena MLA Claire Rattée is speaking up about false and misleading reporting that blamed the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation for a fatal delay in care at the Kitimat General Hospital this month.
Her comments come following an article circulated on November 21st, 2025, by a new online news outlet known as Skeena News.
That article, titled ‘No Value for Indigenous Life? Fatal Delays on Haisla Territory Expose Governance Crisis at Kitimat General Hospital Foundation’, focused on the case of a 17-year-old boy who died while awaiting a hospital transfer for a CT Scan. Within it, blame for his death was placed squarely on the shoulders of the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation, claiming it was responsible for a 9-month delay in finalizing a CT Scanner Agreement with Northern Health, which ultimately led to a hours long delay that proved fatal in the boys case.
Rattée adds, not only was the blame misplaced, quotes from her were included which she claims were completely fabricated.
‘They made up quotes that I never have given… I’ve never done an interview with them on this topic, and I’ve never said once that I thought that the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation was to blame, or that the president of the Hospital Foundation was to blame. They’re the most blameless in this entire situation, they’re the only reason that we have a CT Scanner in the first place.’ – Skeena MLA Claire Rattée on false attribution and false claims within a Skeena News article on the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation
Rattée clarified that responsibility for the delay in installing and commission a CT Scanner in Kitimat lies with the BC NDP government. She said that The Kitimat General Hospital Foundation, and its President, have both provided extraordinary service within Kitimat and were in fact instrumental in raising funds to purchase the scanner for Kitimat in the first place, fundraising $2.7 million dollars for it the previous year.
Rattée also noted the harms done to the reputation of the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation’s board and the devastating impact of the report on the family.
“I don’t know what kind of personal vendetta they had… but not only did it harm the people involved on that board that worked very hard to get us the scanner in the first place, it also harmed the family. I mean that is incredibly traumatizing to have your son’s death used in such a way, for an agenda to attack a person that dose not deserve in any way to be attacked. It really can not be understated.’ – Skeena MLA Claire Rattée on the harms caused by a factually incorrect report
Skeena News has yet to issue a retraction or a correction of their original article and their outlet’s Facebook page has since had it’s content blocked in Canada by Meta, as per the Online News Act, something MLA Rattée said she was pleased to see.
“If they want to pretend to be a news outlet and have their fake news, they’re going to have to find another outlet to do it through, because it wont be on Facebook anymore.” – Skeena MLA Claire Rattée on Skeena News having their content blocked on Facebook
Rattée confirmed that while she is not pursuing legal action, she was adamant that she had not called for a forensic audit of the Kitimat General Hospital Foundation and has no issues with it’s governance model, as Skeena News had claimed.
For its part, Northern Health had recently confirmed the Kitimat CT Scanner project is on schedule, with the machine itself expected to arrive in early December, and services planned to begin in the spring of 2026.
