The Quebec government has issued a new directive in an effort to clear up any confusion around the use of language in the health network: English speakers have the right to access social and health-care services in English in Quebec.
The right was enshrined in Article 15 of the province’s law regulating social and health-care services in 1992. It is now outlined explicitly in the directive sent Monday morning which seeks to clarify one the government sent in July, following widespread criticism from anglophone groups, politicians and health-care workers, among others.
“No validation of the user’s identity is required to access these services in English,” reads Monday’s nine-page document.
This newest directive replaces the one sent in July, explained Audrey Noiseux, a spokesperson for the health minister’s office.
The new directive says that organizations in the social and health-care services network can use a different language when delivering services if it’s recognized by Quebec’s language watchdog.
“For example, an organization that has received recognition for the Italian language can continue to offer written and oral correspondence in Italian in addition to French,” it says.
Finally, in any other cases where health care is concerned, a language other than French can be used when the person receiving the service or their representative asks for it or expresses that they do not understand French.
Staff must communicate with them in French by default but can use their judgment and switch to a different language if the interaction calls for it. Staff can also resort to interpretation services if needed.
Written correspondence can be in a language other than French if it’s sent jointly with a French version, according to the new directive. Similarly, documents outlining a patient’s care can be made available in a language the patient understands in addition to French.
“It was never a matter of restricting access to health and social services on the basis of a linguistic criterion,” said Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé in a statement. “We will provide care, no matter your language.”
A government directive that says people will have to have a special document to get some health care services in English is causing outrage and confusion. The province says it’s not what it looks like.
Eva Ludvig, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network, an anglophone rights group, is applauding the new wording in the revised directive.
“The most important thing is that it confirms very clearly … that English-speaking Quebecers are entitled to receive health and social services without question and without showing identification, except your medicare card,” she said.
“That’s all you should need to get services in English.”
The original directive published in July was three times longer. It outlined instructions health-care organizations had to follow when communicating via written correspondence or orally and included several bullet-point lists of hypothetical scenarios where there might be an exception to the rule.
It had specific sections detailing how organizations should communicate with people holding a certificate of eligibility for instruction in English, as well as for communicating with First Nations, Inuit and recent immigrants.
French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge was accused by some of over-complicating vital interactions between people receiving a service and health workers.
For his part, Roberge insisted the directive didn’t alter non-French speakers’ access to health and social services.
“Maybe people read the part concerning administration and thought it was applying to health care” Roberge told CBC Montreal’s Daybreak in August.