Editor’s Note: This story was edited March 4 at 8:33 a.m. to include more information from Mayor Rob O’Toole.
Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality (SPMRM) announced Feb. 27 that Dr. Catherine Nowierski has withdrawn her proposal to operate the Sun Peaks Community Health Centre.
This was the only proposal submitted in response to the municipality’s Request for Proposals, making the timeline for resumed health care services in Sun Peaks unclear.
“Both parties have worked diligently to reach a final agreement that would allow the health centre to reopen as quickly as possible,” the announcement read. “Despite these efforts, we were unable to reach mutually acceptable terms, and Dr. Nowierski has chosen to withdraw from negotiations.”
Sun Peaks Independent News reached out to Nowierski for comment but did not hear back prior to publication. This article will be updated with more information if a response is provided.
“We recognize this update may be disappointing and that many residents are feeling the impact of the health centre’s continued closure,” the municipality shared in the announcement.
While negotiations had stalled in February, Sun Peaks Mayor Rob O’Toole said the municipality did not explore any other options as it was committed to going forward with Nowierski in “good faith.”
“Optically for us to be on the side saying, ‘Okay, well, here we are working on plan B, just in case things don’t work out with you,’ was not something we felt was in our best interest of being collaborative,” he told SPIN. “Hindsight being 2020, one could say ‘here we are five months hence, and you don’t have an agreement,’ so maybe we should have.”
Going forward, he said council and staff will be evaluating all options that make “any viable sense,” to get the clinic reopened.
While a variety of options are on the table in terms of clinic model, reestablishing a relationship with STEPS is not one of them, he clarified.
“I don’t think STEPS would be interested, and I don’t think we are.”
While STEPS provided a lot of support during the transition in fall 2025, according to O’Toole, the model wasn’t the “right fit” for Sun Peaks, he explained.
Selling the clinic is still not the first choice, O’Toole said, and council will be discussing many options.
“I can’t speak for the rest of council as to whether we would entertain [selling] again, but I can say that every clinic medical professional doctor we spoke to said that, under the under the circumstances of providing a lease to a medical professional at essentially $0 for both the space and the equipment, it doesn’t make sense that anybody would want to deal with the hassle of owning the space.”
Due to the limitations on the use of the space and who it can be sold to, covenants around a purchase agreement would still be necessary.
Council met following the Feb. 24 council meeting and community Q and A to receive and review the covenants required for the partnership agreement with Nowierski.
While this information was forwarded to Nowierski, she shared her intention to withdraw her proposal Feb. 26.
Going forward, O’Toole said the process is “literally like ground zero, hour one.”
Council will convene March 10, and there will be an open discussion at that time.
“We’re doing our very best to schedule meetings…with everybody we can as far as people who specialize in medical, professional recruitment or governance,” he said, adding a new request for proposals will be an option following a review of the working group’s report and any making any changes using the lessons learned over the past five months.
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