Protesters, advocates worry Quebec is complicating access to health care in English

MONTREAL — Several dozen protesters gathered in front of a Montreal hospital on Saturday afternoon to protest Quebec’s French language reform law as anxieties deepen over the ability to access health-care services in languages other than French.

Mario Napolitano was one of the Bill 96 opponents demonstrating in front of Santa Cabrini Hospital. As one of the city’s health-care institutions that has bilingual recognition in the province, it is permitted to offer both signage and documents in Italian as well as French.

Sporting a T-shirt that read “English is a crime in Quebec,” Napolitano said he has been in touch with staff who feel they were pestered about the use of English by Quebec language watchdog staff when they visited the hospital earlier this week.

“It’s too much. The hospital is a place of healing,” he said in an interview before the protest. “We don’t find bill 96 is protecting the French language. We find that it’s attacking the English language.”

The Office québécois de la langue française issued a statement disputing both its conduct and mandate. It said the recent hospital visit was part of routine procedures to ensure health-care facilities are complying with the province’s French language charter, adding staff do not impede patients’ ability to access care in languages other than French.

“These visits, carried out by a francization advisor, do not in any way interrupt medical tasks, nor are they intended to analyze private conversations between staff members,” reads the statement issued on Friday.

Meanwhile, the regional health authority that oversees Santa-Cabrini says that it, like all other health facilities in its network, have been “subject to the French language charter for decades, and nothing has been done differently” since Bill 96 — a sweeping overhaul of the province’s language laws — was passed in 2022.

But community groups advocating for the rights of Quebec anglophones are not consoled by these explanations, which come as the province continues adopting provisions of Bill 96. They warn the government is making it harder for Quebecers to access health-care services in English, and their concerns grew last week after the provincial health ministry published a directive spelling out the exceptional circumstances in which health-care workers are allowed to communicate in languages other than French.

The directive specifies that French must be used first in all situations. Other languages will be permissible only in emergency situations, such as is when a person’s health may be compromised or when a patient cannot give their consent or participate in their own treatment.

The directive provides multiple examples. In one, a 14-year-old girl arrives to get an abortion and is accompanied by an aunt who does not understand French. A checklist in her language is permitted to ensure the girl follows the right procedure after the operation.

Another example sees a Spanish-speaking woman arriving at an ER and unable to express the reason for her visit. A health-care worker is allowed to speak to the woman in Spanish. In another, an English-speaking father comes to the hospital with his French-speaking son who needs an immediate medical intervention. Health-care workers are permitted to get the father’s consent in English.

Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of Quebec Community Groups Network, said the new directives are amplifying fears about the kinds of service anglophones and allophones will be able to receive and putting the onus on health-care workers to determine who should be eligible for care in their language of choice.

“This causes anxiety,” she said in an interview on Friday.

Eric Maldoff, a lawyer and founder of the Coalition for Quality Health and Social Services, said on Friday that the law undermines the quality of care anglophones and allophones will be able to receive.

He argued language should take a back seat, adding the province’s directive will create a climate in which health-care workers will have to consider language laws instead of focusing on providing the best possible care.

“Am I allowed to communicate with them in another language? Will I face sanctions if I communicate in another language? That kind of hesitation, … depending on the circumstance, … can mean adverse consequences for the person seeking services,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2024.

Joe Bongiorno, The Canadian Press