Establishing a Language Hierarchy of Citizenship in Quebec

"The medical staff are annoyed."

"It's probably some [employees from nearby Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital who] complained, since we have a lot of McGillers using English." 

Santa Cabrini Hospital source

"As of June 1, 2022, the Charter of the French Language requires organizations in the health and social services network to comply with the charter."

"As part of this process, they must submit an analysis of their linguistic situation to the Office, leading to the issuance of an attestation of conformity when their use of French complies with the provisions of the charter and they meet their other obligations under the charter."

Chantal Bouchard, Office Quebecois de la langue francaise (OQLF)

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. CBC

 

The range of inspections undertaken by language inspectors representing the Office Quebecois de la langue francaise (OQLF) is being expanded, with hospitals in the Montreal area being targeted. Some inspectors probe to verify whether French is being used in operating rooms. An inspection planned at Santa Cabrini Hospital, built in 1960 to serve Montreal's Italian community raised alarm. Managers issued a memorandum of reminder to staff that they are required to use French first in speaking to all patients.

A situation that has left some hospital staff upset and pointing out the absurdity of being taken away from pressing medical duties to enable language inspectors to grill them about the primacy of French in Quebec. The government's priorities are in question for devoting financial resources of some significance to ensuring that the language spoken in Montreal hospitals is French, at a time when the provincial health care system is seen to be in a deplorable state.

While fully supporting the promotion of French in Quebec, staff criticized "coercive" measures in the zealous wake of the Coalition Avenir Quebec government's overhaul of the Charter of the French Language, with the adoption of Bill 96 in 2022. In Cote-des-Neiges a year ago, OQLF inspectors had visited the Jewish General Hospital: "They saw some old plaques in English and Yiddish listing the names of donors and they suggested that we put up another plaque in French."

A study evidently indicated that the use of French in public spaces remained 'stable' from 2007 to 2022, yet that failed to impress the OQLF, which planned its expansion into the health sector regardless, instructed instead by the assertions of the CAQ government that the use of French has seen decline in the province. In actual fact, the study pointed out that English use in the health sector for all of Quebec had declined from 9.2 percent in 2015 to 8.2 percent by 2022.

Now, all government workers, including those in hospitals and nursing homes are required by Bill 96 to use French exclusively in written and oral communications with clients, certain instances excepted. The tenuous bilingual status of hospitals had become a grave issue of concern for Quebec's anglophone community even before Bill 96's adoption. Particularly in view of the fact that research shows language barriers can result in poorer medical outcomes.

Ironically, former Parti Quebecois premier Lucien Bouchard -- himself an avid separatist -- declared in 1996 that "when you go to the hospital and you're in pain, you may need a blood test, but you certainly don't need a language test". The blow-back from this heavy-handed language coercion by the Quebec government has caused it to draw back in slight conciliation, indicating it is prepared to concede some alterations to its controversial directive over concerns health care access in English is being restricted.

"The government of Quebec imposes absolutely no linguistic conditions in health-care settings before providing health care in English to anyone who requests it."

"We are open to clarifying the directive to make it clear that there will never be language requirements in Quebec to treat a patient."

"[The directive] concerns the administration of the health-care system [and] not front-line health care."

"I would like to state in a very, very clear manner, without any ambiguity, that the Government of Quebec has not taken any action, and will not take any action, that calls into question the right of English speakers in Quebec to be welcomed, to be treated in the language of their choice, that is to say in English."

Jean-Francois Roberge, minister of the French language

Yet the directive itself indicates language other than French only be used in exceptional situations, when "health, public safety or the principles of natural justice require it", including during emergencies. Health-care workers are instructed to always communicate first in French, listing highly specific examples where English can be  used, stipulating that members of the  historic anglophone community must provide a certificate of proof of their eligibility to attend English school in Quebec should they wish to receive all medical services exclusively in English.

A health-care worker pushes a patient across a connecting bridge at a hospital in Montreal.  Photo: La Presse canadienne / Graham Hughes