Doctors face lifetime ban in sex abuse cases

Changes to Bill 21 see harsher sanctions for health care professionals found guilty

It takes so much courage for a survivor to come forward to the police, to a tribunal, or even to a therapist.

Health care professionals found guilty of sexual assault will face a lifetime ban on practising in Alberta under changes to a new government bill.

Under the first version of Bill 21, doctors and other health care professionals found guilty of sexually abusing patients would have been forced to turn in their licences for a minimum of five years.

The bill had already made it to third reading before the government executed a backflip Thursday morning and sent it back to the floor for more debate.

Health Minister Sarah Hoffman told media on her way into the legislature Thursday afternoon that the change came after consulting with survivors and the agencies that support them.

“We think we want to go further,” she said.

Along with the lifetime ban change, Thursday’s amendments mean those found guilty of sexual misconduct face penalties ranging from suspension to licence cancellation or a lifetime ban.

A lifetime ban was first floated on Oct. 31 by the Alberta Party’s Karen McPherson, MLA for Calgary-Mackay-Nose Hill.

McPherson has PTSD because of a sexual assault. Visibly emotional, she asked the house to bear with her Thursday morning as she stood to speak to the legislative assembly’s second go at Bill 21.

After her amendment for a lifetime ban was voted down last week, McPherson reached out to the Association of Alberta Sexual Assault Services to make sure she wasn’t off the mark and a lifetime ban wasn’t unreasonable.

It wasn’t. McPherson said she was grateful the government revisited the bill and made an amendment along those lines.

“This is what’s needed. It takes so much courage for a survivor to come forward to the police, to a tribunal, or even to a therapist.

“So this encourages people who have been sexually assaulted to come forward,” she said Thursday afternoon.

McPherson’s biggest worry with the original five-year ban was that it was too weak.

But a lifetime ban “sends a strong message and sets a precedent to say, ‘No, we’re not going to stand for it any longer,’ ” she said.

The UCP later proposed a lifetime ban, too. It was also voted down before the government came back to the table Thursday.