Free dental clinic at risk of closing due to provincial budget cuts

This volunteer clinic is one of 25 across the province that received an annual $25,000 grant from the provincial government since 2023, but the most recent budget has not extended this. Ward-Burkitt says provincially, these 25 clinics service around 54,000 people, and locally it was more than 200 people. She adds that amounted to around $80,000 in services provided.

“This is a nonprofit dental clinic that serves the most vulnerable population in our city, and I’m very concerned what this is going to mean for dental care, whether that’s for the unhoused population, for vulnerable people on income assistance, and even seniors,” said Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Kiel Giddens.

“If people don’t get this type of dental care at this clinic, then they’re going to be ending up in the emergency room, costing way more for taxpayers beyond the value of this $25,000 grant,” Giddens added.

The provincial government’s Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson says this grant was given in 2023 during a time of provincial surplus, adding this was a one time grant for three years. Since then, the federal government introduced the Canadian Dental Care Plan, meaning the province could opt to not extend the $25,000 grants.

“372,000 British Columbians have already received dental care, preventative dental care, and emergency dental care under that federal program, even though it’s just really in its infancy, that’s surely going to grow. And that’s a good thing, it’s really helping at this time of a special financial pressure on British Columbia,” Malcolmson said.

“We know that’s taken the pressure off, and since the federal government is the first payer on these programs, we know that more people are getting connected with dental care. And the role of not-for-profit clinics, like the one in Prince George, they’re going to continue to be really important in that service delivery,” she continued.

Malcolmson adds she’s seen 5000 fewer people come to her ministry for dental help, which she says is proof the federal grant is working and reaching people.

“We know that for-profit and not-for-profit clinics are going to be able to tap in to that,” she said.

However, the federal program does little to reassure the PGNFC, who worries about where their clients would go, should the clinic shut its doors.

“Oftentimes dentists are not taking new patients, there’s all kinds of barriers that get in the way when you’re trying to access those supports,” Ward-Burkitt said.

“This grant has really kept the program running, and now it’s at risk,” Giddens added.

Should nothing change, Ward-Burkitt says the clinic would be able to keep its doors open for one or two more years thanks to community donations and volunteer supports, although the long-term viability of the clinic remains a huge concern.

by Tommy Osborne

Free dental clinic at risk of closing due to provincial budget cuts

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