The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is set to start providing coverage next month — but it’s not clear that enough dentists will enrol to provide care to the 1.6 million seniors that have signed up already.
Health Canada would not provide CBC News with a figure for how many oral health care providers have registered for the CDCP since applications opened on March 11. The department will only say “thousands” have signed on.
According to their national associations, there are approximately 26,500 dentists, 1,700 independent hygienists and 2,400 denturists practising in Canada — 30,500 in total.
“I’m hearing that the sign-up is slow,” said Dr. Heather Carr, president of the Canadian Dental Association. “I do not think it’s as high as we would hope in order for this plan to be successful.”
The $13 billion Canadian Dental Care Plan, announced in December, will provide low- and middle-income Canadian residents with dental insurance if they don’t have private coverage.
Seniors learning their dentists aren’t taking part
Some seniors approved for coverage are finding out their dentists aren’t participating.
“I was annoyed. I was really cross,” said Karen Trimingham, 82, who lives in Yarmouth, N.S., where she’s seen the same dentist for 16 years. “I didn’t think they’d refuse me because I’m a regular customer.”
Trimingham said she doesn’t want to drive hours from her rural community to find a dentist in another city who is signed up for the program.
“I’ve just got to continue paying. I’ll just go and have the minimal amount done with the dentist I’ve got,” she said. “Instead of having this tooth replaced that I lost a couple of months ago, I’ll just go with the gap.”
Victoria senior Joanne Thibault, 68, said her dentist won’t take part either.
“It really irks me that the federal government came out and announced a dental plan, but they didn’t do their homework to get the thing in place so that my dentist could be part of it,” she said.
“I’m not abandoning my dentist. I just want the federal government to do their job and to get this sorted out with them so that she can do her job.”
Association presidents aren’t signing up their own clinics
Canada’s dentists, hygienists and denturists have broadly supported the idea of a national public dental care plan, which they say will help provide essential oral health care to people most in need who otherwise would have to pay out of pocket.
But the presidents of some provincial dentist associations — who are practising dentists themselves — have told CBC News they aren’t planning to offer the program in their own dental offices.
They say Ottawa still has not provided enough details for a program due to launch in a matter of weeks.
They also say they’re troubled by the fact that Ottawa is requiring them to sign contracts in order to join the program, something that no other public or private plans require.
“The patient should have the autonomy and the right to choose their own dentist,” said Dr. Jenny Doerksen, president of the Alberta Dental Association.
“But unlike other dental plans, this federal program is asking the dentist to sign a contract that’s seven pages long with a lot of unknown factors and unnecessary terms and conditions.”
Canada’s dentists, hygienists and denturists have advocated for a Canada-wide public dental insurance plan. But dentists say they’re reluctant to sign a contract with Ottawa without knowing the full details of the plan. (Brian Morris/CBC)
Dental health care providers say they’re also concerned about imposing a lot of new paperwork on already overburdened administrative staff.
“My staff have told me in no uncertain terms they don’t want to do the program because they just cannot handle the extra burden that comes with it,” said Dr. Rob Wolanski, president of the B.C. Dental Association.
The CDCP is modelled on the Non-Insured Health Benefits, a federal program that provides dental care to First Nations and Inuit in Canada.
“It’s a program that has faced criticism for years from both patients and patient communities, as well as providers,” said Dr. Daron Baxter, president of the Manitoba Dental Association.
“One of the main reasons is due to the intensive administrative burden that often leads to delays in delivery of care.”
Dentists also still don’t know how the CDCP will coordinate with other plans offered by provinces and territories.
Last-minute consultation
Provincial dental associations say Ottawa only began consulting with them in November, just a month before the program was announced.
“The dentists were brought in at the 11th hour,” said Dr. Brock Nicolucci, president of the Ontario Dental Association.
“Why did we start so late and are we rushing in a program that maybe we should be putting the brakes on?”
WATCH | Dentists raise concerns about federal dental care rollout:
Dentists raise concerns about federal dental care rollout
2 days ago
Duration 8:45
Canadian Dental Association president Heather Carr says her colleagues are ‘hopeful’ the new federal dental care program will mean better care for more Canadians, but the rollout has included ‘a great deal of confusion and a great deal of complications’ for dentists and patients.
The federal government, they say, also initially pitched the plan as “free” dental care — and it isn’t.
The program only covers some types of dental work and pays dental health care providers at a lower rate than the fees recommended by provincial and territorial guidelines issued by dental associations. Dentists say they still don’t know exactly how much the federal government will pay them for providing care. Those amounts change every year; the 2024 CDCP guide still hasn’t been published.
There is also a significant co-pay for those with household net incomes between $70,000 and $90,000.
That means most patients should still expect a bill after visiting the dentist’s chair.
Minister of Health Mark Holland listens to a question following an announcement on dental care on December 11, 2023 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
Health Minister Mark Holland suggested Ottawa may sweeten the deal to entice more dental care providers to join.
“We’re working actively on creating an alternative portal that will allow dentists to participate just directly. When a patient comes in front of them, to just put in the information, and be able to put in that claim,” Holland told reporters during a stop in Winnipeg this week.
Holland compared the CDCP to the introduction of universal healthcare in Canada, which he says also came with challenges.
“There’s a lot of fear, it’s a new program, I get that,” Holland said.
“But conversation by conversation, it’s been moving very positively, and I believe that we’re going to have exceptionally strong uptake.”
Do you have questions about how Canada’s new dental care plan may affect you? Send an email to ask@cbc.ca.
Nova Scotia RCMP say their investigation into two suspicious deaths earlier this month has concluded that one man died by homicide and the other by suicide.
The bodies of two men, aged 40 and 73, were found in a home in Windsor, N.S., on Sept. 3.
Police say the province’s medical examiner determined the 40-year-old man was killed and the 73-year-old man killed himself.
They say the two men were members of the same family.
No arrests or charges are anticipated, and the names of the deceased will not be released.
RCMP say they will not be releasing any further details out of respect for the family.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from its original location because members were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
Nemaska’s story illustrates the challenges Legault’s government faces as it looks to build new dams to meet the province’s power needs, which are anticipated to double by 2050. Legault has promised that any new projects will be developed in partnership with Indigenous people and have “social acceptability,” but experts say that’s easier said than done.
François Bouffard, an associate professor of electrical engineering at McGill University, said the earlier era of hydro projects were developed without any consideration for the Indigenous inhabitants living nearby.
“We live in a much different world now,” he said. “Any kind of hydro development, no matter where in Quebec, will require true consent and partnership from Indigenous communities.” Those groups likely want to be treated as stakeholders, he added.
Securing wider social acceptability for projects that significantly change the landscape — as hydro dams often do — is also “a big ask,” he said. The government, Bouchard added, will likely focus on boosting capacity in its existing dams, or building installations that run off river flow and don’t require flooding large swaths of land to create reservoirs.
Louis Beaumier, executive director of the Trottier Energy Institute at Polytechnique Montreal, said Legault’s visit to Nemaska represents a desire for reconciliation with Indigenous people who were traumatized by the way earlier projects were carried about.
Any new projects will need the consent of local First Nations, Beaumier said, adding that its easier to get their blessing for wind power projects compared to dams, because they’re less destructive to the environment and easier around which to structure a partnership agreement.
Beaumier added that he believes it will be nearly impossible to get the public — Indigenous or not — to agree to “the destruction of a river” for a new dam, noting that in recent decades people have come to recognize rivers as the “unique, irreplaceable riches” that they are.
Legault’s visit to northern Quebec came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
The book, published in 2022 along with Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Nemaska community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault was in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro complex in honour of former premier Bernard Landry. At the event, Legault said he would follow the example of his late predecessor, who oversaw the signing of the historic “Paix des Braves” agreement between the Quebec government and the Cree in 2002.
He said there is “significant potential” in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, both in increasing the capacity of its large dams and in developing wind power projects.
“Obviously, we will do that with the Cree,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
NEMASKA – For the first time in their history, members of the Cree community of Nemaska received a visit from a sitting Quebec premier on Sunday and were able to share first-hand the story of how they were displaced by a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
François Legault was greeted in Nemaska by men and women who arrived by canoe to re-enact the founding of their new village in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region, in northern Quebec, 47 years ago. The community was forced in the early 1970s to move from their original location because they were told it would be flooded as part of the Nottaway-Broadback-Rupert hydro project.
The reservoir was ultimately constructed elsewhere, but by then the members of the village had already left for other places, abandoning their homes and many of their belongings in the process.
George Wapachee, co-author of the book “Going Home,” said community members were “relocated for nothing.”
“We didn’t know what the rights were, or who to turn to,” he said in an interview. “That turned us into refugees and we were forced to abandon the life we knew.”
The book, published in 2022 by Wapachee and Susan Marshall, is filled with stories of Cree community members. Leaving behind sewing machines and hunting dogs, they were initially sent to two different villages, 100 and 300 kilometres away, Wapachee said.
In their new homes, several of them were forced to live in “deplorable conditions,” and some were physically and verbally abused, he said. The new village of Nemaska was only built a few years later, in 1977.
“At this time, families were losing their children to prison-schools,” he said, in reference to the residential school system. “Imagine the burden of losing your community as well.”
Legault’s visit came on Sept. 15, when the community gathers every year to remember the founding of the “New Nemaska,” on the shores of Lake Champion in the heart of the boreal forest, some 1,500 kilometres from Montreal. Nemaska Chief Clarence Jolly said the community invited Legault to a traditional feast on Sunday, and planned to present him with Wapachee’s book and tell him their stories.
Thomas Jolly, a former chief, said he was 15 years old when he was forced to leave his village with all his belongings in a single bag.
Meeting Legault was important “because have to recognize what happened and we have to talk about the repercussions that the relocation had on people,” he said, adding that those effects are still felt today.
Earlier Sunday, Legault had been in the Cree community of Eastmain, where he participated in the official renaming of a hydro dam in honour of former premier Bernard Landry.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
