UNA president demands swift action on Emergency Department safety in Alberta

For immediate release: Thursday, April 9, 2026

In a letter to Alberta Hospital and Surgical Health Services Minister Matt Jones prompted by the stabbing Friday in the Royal Alexandra Hospital Emergency Department, United Nurses of Alberta President Heather Smith is demanding immediate action to install a promised weapons detection system at the hospital. 

In addition to properly funding and expediting installation of the weapons detection system, Smith called for two other measures to be urgently undertaken at hospitals throughout Alberta:

• Guaranteeing funding to employ sufficient Protective Services Officers to staff all hospital Emergency Departments in Alberta
• Prioritizing infrastructure expansion of Emergency Departments throughout the province

“Let’s not underplay the seriousness of this threat,” Smith said in her letter, which was sent to Jones earlier today. “Unlike your statement, events like this are not merely ‘unsettling.’ 

“They rightly frighten patients and staff, including the nurses and other health care professionals at hospitals throughout Alberta, who face similar situations far too often and threats of violence almost daily,” the letter said. “Taking ‘steps to strengthen safety at this site,’ as you promised, is not good enough.”

The continued presence of weapons in Emergency Departments in Alberta represents a critical failure of the government and health care employers to provide safe access to health care for patients and safe workplaces for nurses and other health care workers, the letter said. 

Addressing this dangerous situation also requires acknowledgement by the Alberta Government that the violence in Alberta’s Emergency Departments is caused in significant part by the lack of health care capacity, Smith said. “The best way to eliminate the problem is to build the capacity that Alberta requires.”

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