The dismissal of a longtime emergency medical services chief following a candid discussion with Whitewood town council has raised concerns about transparency, whistleblower protections and the state of rural EMS in Saskatchewan.
Glen Perchie, former EMS director and chief for the South Zone, departed the Saskatchewan Health Authority on Dec. 2, weeks after addressing Whitewood council about staffing shortages and service pressures during a Nov. 4 meeting. The SHA has not confirmed whether the meeting played any role in the decision.
In an email to EMS staff, Jon Antal, manager and deputy chief of EMS for South Central — who attended the Whitewood meeting — confirmed Perchie’s departure.
“Glen’s career in EMS spanned over 40-plus years and was the definition of exemplary service and leadership,” Antal wrote. “We wish him well in his next endeavour.”
Opposition health critic Meara Conway said the circumstances surrounding Perchie’s dismissal are troubling and risk discouraging frontline workers from speaking openly about public safety concerns.
“I would remind healthcare workers that they are generally protected under whistleblower legislation,” Conway said in an interview. “I would like to see a commitment from the government that it will stop these kinds of reprisals and engage openly and honestly with people on the front line who understand the issues.”
Conway sent letters to Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill and Remote Health Minister Lori Carr requesting responses by 6 p.m. on Dec. 16.
“I was shocked to read reports that your government has dismissed longtime EMS Chief Glen Perchie after he spoke candidly with municipal leaders about staffing shortages and the state of emergency medical services (EMS) in Whitewood and across Saskatchewan,” she said in the letter. “Mr. Perchie warned that EMS in Saskatchewan is in ‘the worst shape we’ve been in for years … one sprained ankle away from being down an ambulance.’ That is an alarming public safety concern, and one Saskatchewan people deserve to hear.”
In the letter, Conway pressed the ministers on whether Perchie was dismissed for speaking candidly to council, why the government has not been more transparent about the state of EMS, and how staffing and service gaps are being addressed.
“We are in the middle of a staffing crisis,” she said. “Reports that an experienced EMS leader was dismissed for honestly answering questions from municipal officials about healthcare are deeply troubling.”
During the Nov. 4 meeting, Perchie told council he was responsible for overseeing 38 ambulance services across southern Saskatchewan, many of which rely on on-call staffing models.
“We’ve been working with the government for the last four years on stabilizing rural EMS,” Perchie said at the time. “We’re trying to move those services to eight hours on and 16 on-call. Even that is not as good as what we have here, with 12 hours on and 12 on-call.”
Whitewood Mayor Chris Ashfield said Perchie’s remarks reflected concerns already felt in the community.
“When your ambulance isn’t available and another one has to come from another town 30 or 40 minutes away, that’s not a small issue,” Ashfield said. “That could be life and death. We asked the SHA to come speak to us because we needed straight answers, and Glen gave us those answers.”
Perchie was often praised for his transparency.
“Here’s someone who took the time, he’s highly competent, he’s on the ground, he knows the issues,” Conway said. “He meets with the local council to discuss both challenges and solutions. He’s doing everything that we should expect from people running our healthcare system, he acknowledges that things are worse than ever, but he also points to the things that are being done that need to be done and he’s fired. This is just madness.”
The SHA said it remains committed to community engagement but would not comment on individual personnel matters.
“While we are unable to comment on individual human resource decisions, which are confidential, we are able to provide information about ongoing actions toward strengthening EMS services,” SHA chief operating officer Derek Miller said in a statement. “The SHA encourages leaders across the province to engage directly with municipal partners to share information, understand local needs and support collaborative planning. We value the partnership of community leaders in strengthening health and emergency medical services.”
Miller acknowledged pressures within EMS and said SHA senior leadership planned to meet with Whitewood officials to address their concerns.
“Our commitment is to reliable health and EMS services, strong communication and ongoing collaboration with the communities we serve,” he said.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Conway reiterated her concerns, noting she had been unable to connect with Perchie directly.
“I want to be very clear,” she said. “Firing a frontline leader in healthcare because they were honest with municipal leaders about the true state of healthcare, including risks to public safety, would be completely unacceptable.”
Conway said she has spoken with between six and 10 EMS employees across the province since the issue emerged.
“I think that’s significant,” she said.
The provincial government says it has made investments aimed at strengthening EMS. Since 2022-23, Saskatchewan has invested nearly $18 million to add about 200 full-time equivalent paramedic positions across 68 rural EMS services. The province has also increased annual training seats for primary care paramedics from 152 to 252 and provided more than $2.18 million in bursaries and licensing support.
On Dec. 16, Miller and SHA executive director Rod MacKenzie attended a Whitewood town council meeting as a delegation via Zoom. Miller spoke about the importance of communication with municipalities, but Ashfield said that appeared to be the very issue at the centre of Perchie’s dismissal.
“I’m a little confused,” Ashfield told council. “That’s exactly what we did, and the person was terminated because of it.”
Miller said the SHA would establish two points of contact for EMS-related questions going forward and emphasized the need for candid discussions.
“We are under pressures in EMS and other areas of healthcare,” he said. “We need to be able to share what’s happening with the current situation.”
Miller also committed to rebuilding the relationship with Whitewood council and regaining trust, including a proposed in-person meeting early in the new year.
“We want to repair if there has been a breach in trust and you’re feeling like that,” Miller said, suggesting a future in-person meeting with Council next month. “We want to repair and get on better footing.”
Miller added they would also strive to bring Tarr and Ulmer to that upcoming meeting.
“We’d be open to having you guys out, to meet face-to-face for sure in the New Year,” Mayor Ashfield said. “There is some repair work that has to happen and I think that needs to happen fairly soon. We were all shocked by this and quite honestly, quite disappointed in it because we did have a good relationship with Mr. Perchie.”
