No eligibility certificate needed for English health care, MNAs say

Ruby Pratka, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

editor@qctonline.com

Members of the National Assembly have passed a unanimous motion stating that English-speaking Quebecers do not need to obtain or provide a certificate of eligibility for English education to access health care in English.

Liberal health critic André Fortin tabled the motion on Sept. 12. The motion called for the National Assembly to declare that English-speaking Quebecers “don’t need to obtain a certificate of eligibility for English-language education to have access to English-language health care and social services in Quebec” and that “clear and explicit” directives to that effect need to be given to local health authorities.

Fortin tabled the motion with the support of Québec Solidaire health critic Vincent Marissal and independent MNA Marie-Claude Nichols. The motion was to have been sent to every regional health authority (CISSS or CIUSSS) in the province.

Liberal critic for relations with the English-speaking community Greg Kelley is the party’s point person on the issue of access to health care in English. Kelley said the motion did not have the force of law, but sent a “strong signal.

“I thought it was important that the National Assembly send a clear message that no one needs an eligibility certificate to access health care,” Kelley said. “Lucien Bouchard said you don’t need a language test in order to get a blood test, and the [Coalition Avenir Québec government] should not play with things like that.”

Kelley, a second-term MNA for the Montreal riding of Jacques-Cartier, said his office has received calls from anglophone constituents concerned about health-care access in light of a directive issued by Minister of the French Language Jean-François Roberge in July. The directive, which laid out a list of situations where a language other than French might be used in health care, was widely interpreted in the anglophone community as potentially restricting the use of English with patients, although Roberge has denied that was the government’s intention.

Roberge later promised to issue a new, clearer directive, but no such directive has been released yet. “We’re still waiting for the new directive [but] the fact that all 125 MNAs say you don’t need an eligibility certificate is a solid sign,” Kelley said.

Although the motion refers explicitly to education eligibility certificates, Kelley said patients didn’t have to worry about showing other forms of documentation to get English-language service. “The only type of proof [of membership in the English-speaking community] that exists is the eligibility certificate, which a lot of people can’t get,” he said. “No one should have to worry about having a piece of paper to get services.

“When you go to a hospital, you don’t have to worry about language,” he added. “The institution is under the obligation to try to serve you in English – capacity is another issue, but you always have the right to walk in and ask, to say ‘It’s important to me to get service in English.’”