Protecting Access to English Health Services
A massive piece of legislation to create a new body – Santé Québec – that will oversee the entire health- and social-services network in the province – Bill 15 – faced intense opposition from many quarters before it went through the National Assembly via closure at the end of 2023. Of particular concern to English-speaking Quebecers was the adoption of a last-minute amendment to include a mechanism in the bill to allow the withdrawal of minority-language services if numbers in a given region warrant. The bill eliminates local boards of hospital and sharply reduces the degree of community-based input in the management of local health institutions. The bill attracted widespread criticism, including an unprecedented letter of objection signed by six former premiers, both Liberal and Péquiste, as well as charitable foundations, health-care workers, many in the social-services sector and the QCGN. The last-minute amendment, put forward, withdrawn, and put forward again by Health Minister Christian Dubé, flies in the face of guarantees Premier François Legault made in 2022 about the government’s commitment to not further restrict English-language access to health services.
Article 15 of Quebec’s Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services recognizes the right of English-speaking persons to receive health and social services in the English language. Access to these services in the English language depends on the organizational structure and human, material and financial resources of the institutions and the extent to which they are provided by an access program. Section 509 of the Act respecting health services and social services provides for the creation of a Provincial Committee for the Provision of Health Services and Social Services in the English Language. The Committee is created by regulation and its mandate is to advise the government on the provision of health services and social services in the English language; and the approval, evaluation, and modification by the Government of each access program developed by an institution in accordance with section 348 of the Act.
CONSULT BILL 15, AN ACT TO MAKE THE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES SYSTEME MORE EFFECTIVE
CONSULT AN ACT RESPECTING HEALTH SERVICES AND SOCIAL SERVICES