About Us

Like many of you, I maneuver through my day as a parent, a spouse, a business owner, a BC citizen and a taxpayer. I am proud of so many things that BC has to offer, but the Primary Care CRISIS is not one of them.

In 2022 my family and I found ourselves among the one million citizens of BC that do not have a Family Doctor. Alarm bells went off when we realized that there were no doctors available to take over! Some families are blessed with good health and have managed without a family doctor but my family is not that lucky. My husband, our children and I face many medical challenges and deal with complex medical conditions, none of which can be managed without the help of a Family Doctor that knows our health history, is available to deal with what comes up for us, and can be our liaison and advocate when it comes to the specialist care we require. I am grateful for the specialists we have, but it’s the Family Doctor who monitors our well-being between specialist appointments, coordinating our care, providing treatments, offering comfort and translating an otherwise complex web of medical interventions for us. I could go on at length about the essential care that a Family Doctor provides to my family, but I invite you to read about Family Doctors, Nurse Practitioners and other Primary Care Support team members and the critical benefit they provide to BC residents.

I know my family and all of you deserve and need longitudinal care from a dedicated primary care provider – NOT a 15-minute one-time care, or emergency room care as a substitute! The risks of not having enough family doctors in BC is too great for any of us to bear.

Sharman Minus has lived in Victoria since 1998, moving here with her family: husband Dr. Richard Rycraft (a dentist) and their only child, a daughter who lives in Toronto. She has a BA in Spanish.

Now retired, she volunteers at Government House Gardens and is a member of the Oak Bay Heritage Commission. The first heritage building she helped save was the Armenian church in Yangon, Myanmar, where her grandparents were married in 1922. She worked with neighbours for four years to establish The Prospect, Oak Bay’s first Heritage Conservation area.

Since moving to Victoria in 1998 she has had five FP’s who either retired or left their practices during that time. After having a heart attack and emergency angioplasty in March of 2020, she has relied on first, an overworked hospitalist, then Telehealth to help with her condition. She sees a cardiologist annually but has never had an in person visit with a doctor outside of a hospital since her cardiac event.

She saw Camille Currie’s posts on Facebook in February, 2022 and knew she had to help. After some discussion, the first petitioning event with Camille and family and other volunteers happened within weeks. Since then the “pop-up petitioners group” has campaigned in Cook St. Village, Dallas Rd., Willows Beach, Oak Bay Village, downtown Victoria, Cadboro Bay and Sidney. Whether standing on the street handing out flyers or going into shops and businesses to hand a flyer to the proprietor, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. She says it is the most satisfying volunteer work she has ever done.

Adrian is a retired Professor of medicine and kidney specialist. Trained in Ireland and the UK. Most of his career spent at St Boniface Hospital/University of Manitoba. He taught in Africa and India. He wrote multiple medical research papers including the topic of medical ethics. He has worked with human rights groups such as Dying With Dignity and Independent Jewish Voices with many public presentation thereof.

Jenna was born and raised in Victoria, but her desire to pursue a career in healthcare led her to Vancouver in 2009. After completing an Occupational/Physical Therapy Diploma at VCC, she worked in various hospitals and communities across the Lower Mainland. Her commitment to assisting patients with rehabilitation and mobility equipment inspired her to become a Seating and Mobility Consultant, Account Manager, and a certified Assistive Technology Professional (RESNA).

Shortly after moving to Kamloops in 2022, to finish her Bachelor of Health Science, she fell ill and realized that there were no walk-in clinics in the city. It took her 3 days just to get a phone appointment with a doctor! After recovering, the gravity of the health care crisis really sunk in, and she felt like she must take action to help be a catalyst for change. She discovered BCHCM and signed their petition advocating for everyone to have access to a family doctor.

Today, Jenna channels her passion for health care advocacy into creating media content to educate and inspire others to work towards building a healthier future for everyone living in beautiful British Columbia.

I was born in Kamloops BC under the care of a primary physician, and despite spending a few years in Alberta, I returned to Kamloops to complete my Animal Health Tech diploma in 2010. I was incredibly lucky to move just at the time a family physician was taking new patients, but when my family joined me in town, they didn’t have the same luck.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to work with a startup in the veterinary startup space, and when the company was acquired in 2018, I became an employee of IDEXX Reference Laboratories. I currently work as a junior application developer for IDEXX, and am excited to use my technical expertise to help advocate for change in BC.

I am the proud sister of a medical doctor, class of 2022, who is doing her residency in Psychiatry in Saskatoon, and gives me the “insider scoop” on physician education and another province’s perspective.

Jennifer is a happily married mother of two boys, and a family physician who was born and raised in Victoria, BC. She first decided on a career in medicine at the age of 5, and has practiced family medicine for the past 20 years, primarily in BC, although also in Alberta and Australia. She feels incredibly privileged to be involved in the care of her patients.