Over the past two years, friction between the province's English-speaking community has intensified due to a series of new policies and regulations in the Quebec government, and many English-speaking people are concerned that their right to access essential services in English is being jeopardized.
And in the health reform bill No. 15 that Quebec just forced through last week, a provision that can directly cancel the bilingual qualification of hospitals by Sante Quebec, the governing body of the Quebec government, has pushed this week's concerns to a new high.
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Although the bill has not yet been officially enacted, just this week an incident confirmed the fears of English-speaking people.
According to media reports, the McGill University Health Center (MUHC), a bilingual hospital in Montreal, conducted its board of directors entirely in French, which caused a lot of concerns and complaints from patients.
The MUHC Patient Committee said that most of the members of the MUHC board are actually English-speaking people, and that the hospital, which is also nominally bilingual, has public meetings all in French, which has left them concerned that some English-speaking people are being excluded from the institution that is supposed to serve them.
Ingrid Kovitch, president of the MUHC Patient Association, said they have received multiple complaints over the past few months involving patients, caregivers and families, many of whom have said they cannot understand the language of the board's public meetings.
"It's very important for the stakeholders in the hospital to be able to understand and participate in the management of the institution!"
Kovitch points out that Quebec's Language Act 96 is the real culprit behind everything.
"The hospital board, as well as the MUHC as a whole, is under tremendous pressure and scrutiny, and the hospital is being required to comply with Act 96, but it is the patients who pay the price. ”
For its part, MUHC declined requests for media interviews, but said it said that as a designated bilingual medical facility, the hospital would provide care and services in French or English, depending on the language preferences expressed by patients.
MUHC emphasized that during board meetings, any questions raised by the public in English will be answered in English.
QCGN, an English-speaking group in Quebec, questioned the measure, "Since hospitals have bilingual status, they should make full use of that status to ensure the right to bilingual services!"
"If you don't use your rights, you lose it. ”
QCGN said the MUHC hospital should fight back like the Montreal Board of English Schools (EMSB).
At the moment, the Quebec government has not responded to this matter.