Nova Scotia’s next chief medical officer of health says he’s proud to represent his hometown of Val Rita-Harty and the Kapuskasing region in the prestigious post. Doctor Jesse Kancir takes over the position in January following the retirement of Dr. Robert Strang.
Kancir says he first wanted to be an economist, but the recovery from a severe cute to his hand while working his first night shift at the Kap paper mill gave him time to think.
“This experience and working with a lot of healthcare professionals, and it pivoted me from being and think ok I am going to work with numbers and math to working at a bank somewhere to saying, I want to be a healthcare provider,” he said. “I’ve seen what they do for people, and it completely changed my life.”
Kancir tries to come back home at least once a year to visit family and even do a little fishing. He says he misses the north but not the blackflies.
Kancir says he wouldn’t be where he is today without the support he got from various teachers and working at the detox centre.
“Kap has been full of people who made sure I got opportunities and were encouraging and really help me change my perspective of a world that could be different outside of a small town,” he said. “I think about Kap all the time and I hope one time I have a chance to give back to it in some way. The very least I can do right now is to tell people about this place.”
Kancir moved to Nova Scotia in 2021 and was previously a medical officer of health in the Yukon.
