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They already need one for education, and now “historic anglophone” Quebecers may need their English-language eligibility certificate if they wish to communicate exclusively in the language of Shakespeare in the province’s health-care network, suggests a new government directive.
Under the heading of “oral and written communication,” the Health Ministry spells out the conditions for the exclusive use of English in the health sector.
“An (institution within the health network) can communicate in English exclusively with a person” provided that they meet two criteria:
The other possibility is if Quebec anglophones can prove that prior to May 13, 2021, they had corresponded “only in English” with an institution within the health network regarding their medical file, and the institution is able to confirm this English-only correspondence before that date.
There is a caveat, however: Any pre-May 2021 correspondence cannot have been “motivated solely” by the state of emergency that Quebec declared during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I know it sounds far-fetched, but these are crazy rules,” said Montreal lawyer Eric Maldoff, who is also chair of the Coalition for Quality Health and Social Services.
The requirement to produce an English-language certificate by the Education Ministry for health care adds to the Kafkaesque nature of the densely bureacratic directive issued by the Health Ministry on July 18. That’s because such certificates are nearly impossible to obtain, even for anglophones who studied in French in high school and who now want to pursue their CEGEP education in English.
The Gazette reported last October that the Education Ministry had been slow to grant such certificates to students applying to CEGEPs like Dawson College, even if they were eligible.
“We understand that the backlog in issuing English eligibility certificates arose because of the changing rules for CEGEPs,” said Sylvia Martin-Laforge, director general of the Quebec Community Groups Network.
“But what we don’t know is whether the Ministry of Education is now able to handle an additional influx of demands for eligibility certificates arising from this new directive because no one had told us that we would need these eligibility certificates to obtain health care.
“It’s a new, major and scary wrinkle,” Martin-Laforge added.
The Health Ministry directive follows the adoption by the Coalition Avenir Québec government two years ago of Bill 96, an overhaul of the Charter of the French Language. The CAQ government pre-emptively invoked the notwithstanding clause in the Canadian Constitution to shield Bill 96 from any legal challenges alleging violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Bill 96 requires that all government workers, including those in hospitals and nursing homes, use French “systematically” in written and oral communications with their clients, with certain exceptions, like emergencies.
Representatives from the anglophone community who have read the directive have denounced it as confusing and potentially dangerous. The goal behind the directive was to clarify the exceptional situations in which English and languages other than French can be used in the health sector, but critics counter that it does the opposite.
Maldoff has warned the directive could create English-language paranoia in Quebec hospitals, many of which were founded by English-speaking Quebecers. His analysis of the directive is that it could even apply to hospitals and other medical institutions that have been granted bilingual status under the Charter of the French Language.
The directive goes into detail about the exceptional circumstances in which languages other than French can be spoken in health care, including the scenarios of a 14-year-old girl seeking an abortion, an adolescent in the throes of psychosis and a patient who is suicidal.
Maldoff, however, argued that the new rules are unnecessary.
“When it comes to communication between health providers and individuals in need of care, the government should not be imposing itself between them,” he said. “Effective communication is an essential part of delivering care. It’s not optional. It’s at the heart of care.”
Maldoff also expressed concern about the potential impact of requiring an English eligibility certificate among older Quebec anglophones. “The older you get, the less likely you are to have one, and furthermore, these certificates are issued in favour of your children, not you.”
Coinciding with the new directive was a visit last week by an Office québécois de la langue française “francization adviser” to Santa Cabrini Hospital, an institution built in 1960 to serve Montreal’s Italian community. The adviser checked whether the equipment in the operating rooms could be read in French and spoke to the directors of several departments.
Gregory Kelley, Liberal MNA for the largely anglophone Jacques-Cartier riding in the West Island, has called on Premier François Legault to “quickly organize a meeting with community leadership to sort this out.” However, the National Assembly is adjourned for the summer.
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