Shelter-in-place policy in works for Yellowknife hospital following weekend firearm incident

The N.W.T. minister of health says the territory is in the process of developing a shelter-in-place procedure to deal with any potential threat with a weapon in the hospital. 

It follows an incident on Saturday, when a man was charged in Yellowknife after pointing a firearm at a security guard outside Stanton Territorial Hospital.

In the legislature Tuesday, Yellowknife MLA Kieron Testart asked why Stanton doesn't have a "code silver" shelter-in-place policy like other hospitals in Canada. 

Health Minister Lesa Semmler said there is a draft in place and that it's being reviewed by occupational health and safety, "and other various teams."

She said RCMP will review the draft next, then it will be circulated more broadly for feedback.

She said her department is learning from Saturday's incident. 

"We always think that we live in a little bubble up here in the North and these kind of things are not going to happen to us," she said, adding that violence and drugs are affecting all of the N.W.T.'s communities.  

"We are looking at this and improving," she said. 

Testart also asked about increasing security resources to better equip hospital staff to deal with similar situations in the future. 

"It is completely unacceptable, Mr. Speaker, that emergency department staff have cause to fear for their safety," he said. "The emergency department is vital to our health-care system."

Semmler did not commit to more resources for hospital security. She also said she didn't know when the "code silver" policy would be put in place.