Emergency rooms across B.C. have been repeatedly closed due to ongoing staffing challenges in recent years, and paramedics say it’s putting more and more pressure on them — especially when the closures happen in more rural and remote areas.

Ambulance Paramedics of B.C., a union that represents more than 4,500 paramedics and dispatchers, says there have been more than 250 temporary hospital and emergency room closures so far in 2025.

Communities like Lillooet, Mission, Delta, Williams Lake and Chetwynd — among many others — have also faced temporary ER closures this year due to staffing shortages.

"The province has known about these staffing and capacity issues for years, yet here we are again. Another night, another closure," Delta city councilor Dylan Kruger told CBC News last month.

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