By Ruby Pratka

Local Journalism Initiative

After a failed attempt to persuade the health and social services committee of the National Assembly to take another look at the shelved CHSLD expansion project, members of the Bedford Pole Health Committee (BPHC) and their supporters are looking at alternative ways to bring attention to the project and push for a policy change.

In May 2022, after several years of advocacy from community groups, Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabelle Charest and then-seniors’ affairs minister Marguerite Blais announced details of an expansion plan which would allow the residence to accommodate up to 49 residents in private rooms and create a protected unit with eight places for people with cognitive disabilities who are susceptible to wandering, as the BCN reported at the time. However, in June of this year, officials from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS announced the project was off the table, although smaller renovations would go ahead in consultation with a users’ committee.

Members of the BPHC and the Bedford Pole Economic Relaunch Committee launched a campaign to revive the expansion project, holding a protest in front of the CHSLD and gathering over 3,300 signatures on a petition which was tabled at the National Assembly on Oct. 10. Liberal seniors’ affairs critic Linda Caron, who tabled the petition, said she formally requested that the health and social services committee of the National Assembly hold a hearing on the issue, but that request was turned down. In mid-October, representatives of the Fondation Lévesque-Craighead, which had raised tens of thousands of dollars toward the project, met with officials from the CIUSSS de l’Estrie-CHUS and confirmed that the project was officially dead.

However, the BPHC is continuing to push for the project to be revived in some form. At a public meeting organized by the committee in Bedford on Nov. 29, local resident Marielise Deschamps announced plans to table a second petition in hopes that the National Assembly would hold hearings on the issue and pass a bill. “It’s clear that we won’t get the $15 million [initially promised for the project] but if we can get back $10 million, that will help.”

Lawyer François-David Bernier laid out a plan to send a “symbolic mise en demeure” to the Ministry of Health and Social Services denouncing what committee members see as its lack of investment in eldercare services in rural regions. Mises en demeure are formal letters asking the recipient to correct a perceived injustice, and raising the prospect of legal action if nothing is done.

Bernier acknowledged that the committee wasn’t in a position to sue the government over the cancelled project. “The legal sphere can’t dictate the political sphere; even if politicians have made promises, we can’t constrain them to follow through,” he said. “A mise en demeure to the government would be symbolic, but we want to tell them not to trivialize this issue. It’s a newish concept, but we want to denounce the inaction – the things that were said and not respected.”

“There are a lot of issues with our elders, there are a lot of budget cuts, and this is an important cause,” Bernier added. “Any self-respecting society is obligated to treat their elderly people with respect and give them appropriate care in their region. It is rare that you see people get mobilized like they have.”