Senior Care Services in English in Quebec
QCGN’s Access to Justice in English project has released its report on access to health care services for seniors in English through Quebec’s SAPA program (Soutien à l’autonomie des personnes âgées).
The issue was selected on the basis of prior research conducted by the AJEQ Project, including a population survey of 1,601 English-speaking Quebecers conducted by Quorus Consulting Group in September 2021, which revealed that hospitals and CLSC care were among the most widely accessed provincial government services by English-speaking Quebecers, and that more than one in three English-speaking Quebecers who had accessed these services in the past two years found it difficult to do so in English. The issue of senior care was under close scrutiny at the time the issue was selected, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent coroner’s inquiry into pandemic-related deaths at seniors’ residences across Quebec.
This investigation uncovered several systemic barriers to English-speaking seniors accessing SAPA services in English, in CLSCs, long-term care facilities, and other health care institutions across Quebec. We then validated these findings through a targeted outreach to 45 organizations and users’ committees between August and November 2022, yielding some 16 informational interviews.
The top report contains an executive summary of our top findings, informed by our research and validation process. This is followed by 13 recommendations presented by QCGN’s AJEQ Project to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) for further consideration. The full final report details the