Outaouais

CLSC in Low saved

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By Trevor Greenway

The Low CLSC has been spared. It will not close, and it will not be reduced to one day a week, according to the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO). 

The CLSC in Low was, at one point this spring, on the chopping block to either close or reduce its hours to just one day a week. However CISSSO has confirmed to the Low Down that “there is no change to the CLSC’s service offer” in Low. 

“Local services are important to the population, especially those on the outskirts of urban areas. We are working to maintain them,” Santé Québec spokesperson Marianne Paquette told the Low Down.

This welcome but surprising decision to keep the Low CLSC open comes as part of a wider announcement by Santé Québec that that the initial $90 million that CISSSO was mandated to cut from its budget has been slashed in half – down to $45 million. With CISSSO having already cut $60 million from its budget in January, no more funding cuts are coming to the Outaouais. 

“The CISSS de l’Outaouais has a budget optimization target of $45 million. Given that we have already implemented measures to meet the objectives of the last financial period, no further measures will be implemented in terms of job cuts or major reorganizations,” Santé Québec spokesperson Qeren Boua told the Low Down in an email. “As our efforts in the last period amounted to almost 60 million, the remaining dollars will be used to absorb, among other things, the cost of inflation.”

In mid-March, CISSSO cut $60 million from its budget in an effort to help Santé Québec to slash $1.5 billion from its healthcare network. Those cuts came in the form of 800 health positions being abolished – a majority of them vacant jobs. The actual job cuts were around 100 staff, mostly in administrative positions. Santé Québec’s latest budget will see it cut $1 billion from its health network instead of $1.5 billion.

Paquette said that the province’s centralized health department is using three criteria to finalize and “optimize” budgets across regions, with tightening spending at the forefront. 

Paquette said her agency will have a “complete and more accurate picture of the situation” once its audited financial statements for Santé Québec are approved by its board of directors in June. 

MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Prefect Chantal Lamarche told the Low Down in April that she would “refuse” to see the Low CLSC close. After hearing about Santé Québec’s budget revisions this week, she was much happier.

“This is excellent news for our community, and I would like to highlight the work done in collaboration with the CISSSO to get to this point,” wrote Lamarche in an email. “I remain committed to defending the accessibility and quality of health services in our region.” 

Despite slashing the amount of what needed to be cut in half, advocates say they worry about the current state of healthcare in the region, as a cut of $45 million still puts the Outaouais far below funding compared to other regions of Quebec. 

“Reducing from $90 million to $45 million is not a victory; it is proof that the initial approach lacked nuance and would have unfairly impacted an already vulnerable region,” said SOS Outaouais spokesperson Jean Pigeon in a statement last week. 

He noted that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. 

“It is imperative that the government finally take our regional realities into account,” he said.

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Closed OR rooms…so he has to leave

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By Trevor Greenway

An anesthesiologist from Chelsea is being forced to find work elsewhere in the province because there aren’t enough functional operating rooms in the Outaouais. 

Staffing levels are so low at the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) that just seven out of the region’s 19 operating rooms will be functional this summer, sending medical specialists like Dr. Trevor Hennessey hundreds of kilometres across Quebec and Ontario just to find work. 

“Our CISSS is dying,” said Dr. Hennessey. “Surgeons can’t operate in a hallway, and anesthetists can’t operate without the operating room team. The surgeons and anesthetists in the Outaouais are ready, willing and want to work. We’ve entered into the profession to help and care for the population, and the lack of access to the operating rooms is really a big impact.”

Hennessey, the head of anesthesiology at CISSSO, said that his department has absorbed 17 full weeks of “essentially forced time off” because there was not enough staff to open operating rooms in Hull or Gatineau. This week, Hennessey is doing replacement work at the Roberval Hospital in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. 

He also had to travel as far as Estrie near Sherbrooke and also had to get certification in Ontario to work at the Montfort Hospital for six weeks last year in order to give some of his local immigrant colleagues the local work.

“We brought them from overseas. We brought them with their family. They’ve moved their entire lives here, and then we tell them to sit at home and don’t work and you can’t make any money? I don’t want to lose these colleagues. I don’t want them going back home either.”

He said he’s flexible and doesn’t have kids, so he has agreed to take remote jobs so his recruited workers can stay and work locally.

The problem, according to Hennessey and healthcare advocates in the region, comes down to money – specifically salaries for nurses in Quebec, when compared to Ontario. 

According to the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, nurses in Quebec with a bachelor’s degree have the lowest starting salary in the country, at $53,000 a year. It’s a significant difference in Ontario, where starting salaries for nurses are $74,000 – a staggering 40 per cent more than their Quebec counterparts. This is sending nursing staff to Ontario in droves. And the lack of nurses in operating rooms in the Outaouais means more medical technicians are leaving, including the region’s only vascular surgeon, says Hennessey. 

“We’ve lost four out of six plastic surgeons. We’ve lost a general surgeon. We’ve lost gynecologists with operating room time and lack of equipment,” said Hennessey. “We’ve lost urologists, and – most recently and the big one – we’ll be losing our last and only vascular surgeon for the entire region.”

He continued: “That is a major, major impact for the care of the population. Very sick patients will have to go to Montreal, and emergency cases will have to be transferred further to Ottawa. But when you’ve got a rupture [abdominal aortic aneurysm], every single minute counts. People with major surgeries, such as brain cancers, are going to need to wait significant periods of time.”

Hennessey noted that CISSSO nurses are “phenomenal, but boy, they’re getting tired.”

Doctors facing ‘moral distress’

Hennessey wanted to be clear that surgeons are not leaving the area solely to find work and make money, but many have left the region over what he calls “moral distress,” as doctors feel they can’t follow their duty of care in the Outaouais. 

“They feel like they can’t provide the care to the patients that they need and this is causing such distress that they need to actually leave our area to go elsewhere,” he said. “Some people feel the surgeons are leaving because they want to make money. That’s not the sole reason. They are unable to provide care and are getting phone calls week after week from patients desperate for care and they can’t provide it to them.”

He said that occupancy levels in the region in 2014 and 2017 were at 93 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively. Within 10 years, those levels dropped below 50 per cent “due to a shortage of nurses and other staff.”

A consequence of chronic underfunding

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the latest news about reduced operating rooms is just a consequence of the region’s chronic underfunding over the last 10 years. 

According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million compared to other regions in Quebec. 

Pigeon has the same argument as many doctors and health advocates: The situation won’t improve until there is an alignment of nurse and medical technicians’ pay with those of their Ontario counterparts. 

“This is just going to slowly hurt our region more and more because nothing’s being done about it, right?” he said. “We’re the region in Quebec that has the fewest nurses per capita because … most of them are tempted to go and work elsewhere, especially in Ottawa.” Staff retention has been a constant struggle in the Outaouais region. In 2022, the Outaouais had the lowest number of nurses per resident in the province, with less than five nurses caring for every 1,000 people.

Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not respond to the Low Down’s call for comment. 

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Senior Wellness Initiative aids English-speaking seniors

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By Kendall Knowlton

Who knew aging in the Gatineau Hills could include dancing, health education and virtual stretching?

The English-Speaking Seniors’ Wellness Initiative has made these activities and many more a possibility for aging residents in the Gatineau Hills. 

According to Erica Botner, program manager for seniors at the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), the initiative started about 20 years ago.

The CHSSN is an organization that supports English-speaking communities. They are funded by Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Secrétariat à la jeunesse du Québec, the Secrétariat aux relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise, and Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. 

There are 34 organizations doing activities such as cognitive workshops and other types of education at 125 locations across Quebec, according to Botner. She said that seniors often have trouble accessing health and social services in the province, because of Bill 96, the province’s overhaul of the Charter of the French Language, which restricts certain demographics from receiving services in their first language. 

“They have a harder time accessing health and social services as a language minority, so we do have these centres all across the province,” said Botner, referring to seniors. Connexions also has a satellite office in Wakefield. 

CHSSN’s statistics show that English-speaking seniors aged 55+ take up 28.2 per cent of Quebec’s English-speaking population. Census Canada reports that there were 83,130 seniors in the Outaouais region as of 2021 and 353,085 in Quebec.

Locally, the stats are similar. According to data from La Table de Dévelopment des Collines-de-L’Outaouais (TDSCO) in 2021, there were just 162 private and social housing units for seniors in the region and close to 6,400 residents over the age of 65. There are now 174 units after Farm Point’s Résidence du Petit Bois opened earlier this year with 12 additional units. 

The initiative includes many educational programs that assist seniors as they age like financial abuse workshops. There are activities every week. 

The Know Your Rights and Filing Complaints within the Health and Social Services System workshop will happen in Shawville on May 15.

There is Yoga for Healthy Living in Chelsea on May 21. There is Spectrum Club, which offers games and activities for kids on the spectrum and their families in Wakefield  on May 18 and multiple june events throughout the region. 

“It is giving information in English to seniors about anything health related that is necessary to help them age in place, like stuff about strokes, diabetes, healthy nutrition, physical activity, safe driving, like anything fraud prevention, all of that,” said Botner to the Low Down about what the initiative can do. 

Among the 120 activities for seniors aged 55+ each year, some new ones are popping up. 

The seniors silver lounge, a meeting for seniors, will begin on May 20. It will be at the main Connexions office in Aylmer, according to Diane Wheatley, Seniors Program Regional Coordinator at Connexions Resource Centre. 

“It’s a get together for English-speaking seniors so they can get information,” said Wheatley. It will help English-speaking seniors understand things happening in their community as well as give them the chance to ask questions. 

Having access to the information in a language that seniors can understand matters for reasons such as reading their medications, navigating systems and even figuring out when their next doctor appointment is, according to Botner. 

Wheatley also spoke about a decluttering activity where seniors get some help with going through their belongings and cleaning their spaces. She said the change from winter to spring can be hard for seniors because of the clean up. They might need help clearing things inside and outside, and the initiative can help them with cleaning their homes.

Other activities give seniors a chance to get out of the house and learn more about themselves. 

These include health education presentations, physical activities like gentle stretching for balance and mobility, dancing, yoga, octoband, walk and talks, creative workshops like arts and crafts, gardening, cooking, sewing, social activities including intergenerational activities and outreach strategies (like phone check ins, and providing information and referrals) to reduce barriers to participation and finding the most vulnerable seniors, according to Botner. 

Botner said the point of this initiative and its activities is to help seniors foster connection, stay healthy, give them a sense of meaning, age in their communities, and reduce social isolation. 

About 12 to 35 seniors attend each activity. 

Wheatley added that there are first aid education sessions for seniors, where they learn CPR and how to treat things such as choking. These sessions are taught by McGill University medical students. 

“Sometimes as a senior they feel like they aren’t listened to, those activities are just to help them break the isolation and be heard,” said Wheatley to the Low Down. “It is extremely rich in regards to that population, and it makes a difference in so many peoples lives.”

The initiative is designed to run until 2027. Botner said that they do not know what will happen after that. 
You can find Connexions’ schedule at https://centreconnexions.org/events-activities/.

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Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts

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By Trevor Greenway

After slashing 800 health positions across the Outaouais, the head of CISSSO says that he still needs to cut an additional $30 million from its budget, money that will “certainly” result in more job losses. 

The CISSSO was mandated by the province’s new health department, Santé Québec, to slash $90 million from its budget in an overall effort to cut $1.5 billion from the province’s health sector by April 1. Last week, CISSSO announced it was cutting 800 health jobs as part of the cuts. However, CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau told the Low Down on March 20 that those cuts only represented two-thirds – $60 million of budget cuts – with an additional $30 million coming down the pike. 

“I think it’s unavoidable,” said Bilodeau when asked if the next round of cuts will result in job losses.  “Because 70 per cent of my expenditures are related to human resources, so expecting to cut without impacting positions is almost impossible.”  

While many of the 800 positions cut last week were vacant, with 104 personnel losing their jobs, Bilodeau says the next round of budget cuts will be especially difficult. He said the first round of cuts was focused on the “easy stuff,” like abolishing vacant positions. He admitted that there would be an impact on residents. He added that not all of the impacts of the cuts would be bad. 

“There would be some impact, but impact doesn’t mean, necessarily, negative impact,” said Bilodeau. “So it could have an impact on how the care is delivered but not necessarily on the amount of care being delivered.”

Dr. Bilodeau used the example of adapting patients with “very common mental health problems” into group therapy settings rather than one-on-one sessions: “I can have 10 patients in the same room with one healthcare provider, and I can do, basically, 10 times more than what I would do with a one-on-one intervention.” He added that managing hours, morale and work-life balance for front-line staffers will be key to moving forward successfully. 

Bilodeau said about two-thirds of the 104 health jobs cut in the region are front-line staff positions, but he added that many have been offered other positions “in more critical areas of our healthcare system.” 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that, while the 800 job losses aren’t as dire as recent headlines suggest, the fact that over 600 vacant positions won’t be renewed kills any chance of recruiting more doctors, nurses or medical technicians to an already underfunded health region. According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. 

“We need to point our fingers at the government here,” said Pigeon. “They are the ones who are making these decisions. And clearly this is not Mr. Bilodeau’s fault. It’s just going to create an overwhelming burden again in the workplace environment. Can we really let go of people that we need in a network that is underfunded and understaffed? No, it’s just chaotic.”

Three full-time positions abolished in Des Collines

According to health watchdog group Vigi Santé, the cuts will be felt locally, as three full-time positions in the Des Collines are being abolished: one at the CHSLD in Masham and two admin positions related to proximity services. 

“Two of them are actual job losses; the third one is a reassignment,” said Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand. 

Chartrand also noted that a 0.5 nursing position is being moved from the Masham CLSC to Cantley. Chartrand added that the cuts are also suspending key projects in the region, including a new seniors’ home in Masham and a multi-purpose, permanent vaccination centre in the Des Collines region.  “We are told time and again that services are not and will not be affected,” said Chartrand. “Hard to believe, as with fewer resources, there will be delays in providing services, and waiting times will be extended.”

No decision on CLSC in Low, yet

Dr. Bilodeau told the Low Down that, while there isn’t yet an official decision to cut services at the CLSC in Low to one day a week, he did say that “measures are on the table.”

“Obviously, some of those places like Low could be affected,” said Bilodeau. “I’m not saying they will be because it’s still being analyzed now, and we haven’t made a decision as to where it’s going to be with the last $30 million that we need to cut.” Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not return the Low Down’s calls for comments.

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts Read More »

‘We’ve been abandoned’

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Hills healthcare advocates say the provincial government has made the Outaouais health crisis worse by cutting a staggering 800 healthcare jobs from the region.  

The cuts were announced March 14 as part of the province’s austerity measures, which will see $1.5 billion slashed from Quebec’s healthcare network – $90 million of that coming out of the CISSS de l’Outaouais’s (CISSSO) budget. 

While a majority of the positions cut are currently vacant, SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the impact will be felt tenfold across the region. 

“There’s basically no amelioration for the healthcare network,” Pigeon told the Low Down. “It’s basically longer waiting times, fewer access and limited access to the healthcare system, and if you look at just recent numbers, most of our emergency wards are at 250 per cent of their capacity,” he added, referring to emergency departments at the Gatineau and Hull hospitals. 

Pigeon said his organization is concerned that two-thirds of the $90 million cut from the Outaouais will come in the form of job losses. While many of them were already vacant (about 100 actual jobs are being cut, according to CISSSO), he said he feels that not filling vacant positions in departments like medical scans and imagery, which are already operating at just 40 per cent capacity, will have a domino effect on healthcare in the Outaouais, where there are currently 78,000 residents in the Outaouais without a family doctor and nearly 7,500 in the des Collines region. 

“We’re in the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had for healthcare, and nobody seems to care about our region. We’ve been abandoned,” said Pigeon. He added that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. “I just think it’s going to get worse and worse because we should be fully in the mode of recruiting and keeping our staff. Now we’re telling staff to move away.”

Patient waited 230 hours

Pigeon referred to a patient in the Gatineau Hospital, who, during the March 1 weekend, spent “more than 230 hours in the emergency room,” while being treated for a mental health episode, according to CISSSO. The patient spent nearly 10 days on a hospital stretcher before he got a bed. 

“Before he actually got services and someone took him into care, he waited for 230 hours,” said Pigeon. “It’s unbelievable.”

Dr. Peter Bonneville, the president of the Conseil des médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens (CMDP) of the CISSSO and an ER doctor at the Gatineau Hospital told the Low Down he feels that CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau has done a “fantastic job,” given that his first mandate from Santé Québec was to slash $90 million from a health budget that has been bleeding for over a decade. 

What he doesn’t agree with, however, is how CISSSO was forced to cut $90 million out of its budget but the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, which is comparable to the Outaouais, only had to cut close to $40 million. 

“That’s a region that has just a bit less population than us, but has, right now, way better access to healthcare,” said Bonneville. “They have more active operating rooms right now, more specialists for the region.” 

It’s important to note that while the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region is comparable in population to the Outaouais, it’s an isolated northern area where there are not many options for health care. While Outaouais patients can travel to Montreal or Ottawa for emergencies, patients in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region don’t have the same options. 

“I will keep on hammering the fact that we are under budgeted by, apparently, about $180 million a year,” Bonneville continued, “So basically, Santé Québec is putting a gun to the head of CISSSO, and they’re saying, ‘You need to do it.’”

Working conditions not ideal, but necessary

Dr. Bonneville told the Low Down that although he is the most senior member of staff at the Gatineau Hospital, he doesn’t expect seniority perks like weekends off or preferred shifts. As a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath, he said he’s aware of the region’s crisis and will do anything he needs to do to help. 

“I still do weekends. I still do holidays. I worked all of New Year’s week, evening shifts,” Bonneville told the Low Down. He said that during the budgeting exercise, CISSSO realized that it was overstaffing day shifts and more staffers will now be moved out of their “cozy day shift” and into an evening or night shift. While it may not be ideal for some, he said it’s the reality of the current landscape.

“I mean, if I am still doing it, I think everybody needs to contribute,” he said. “And you know, it’s nice to have a cozy job where you’re working day shifts, but that’s not the reality of healthcare.”

CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau did not respond to the Low Down’s request for comment by press time nor did the region’s MNA, Robert  Bussière. 

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WQSB schools combatting verbal aggression in class

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by Zenith Wolfe

Local Journalism Initiative

As Canadian school teachers and staff continue to grapple with verbal aggression in classrooms, several Outaouais school boards are taking action with anti-violence weeks and regional committees against classroom incivility.

In 2024, the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) surveyed over 5,000 Quebec school staff to determine how often they were abused during the 2023-2024 school year. A third of respondents reported at least one instance of physical abuse, while around 40 per cent were subject to verbal or other non-physical abuse, such as shouting, offensive comments or intimidation. Ninety per cent of staff who reported abuse that year said students are the main instigators, the survey says.

George Singfield is director-general of the Western Quebec School Board (WQSB), which oversees 31 schools, adult education centres and vocational training centres across the province. He hesitates to speak about an increase in verbal aggression at his schools, but says he’s witnessed an increase in verbal aggression from all Canadians over his 38-year education career.

“In 1985 when I started as a teacher, did I see students who were verbally aggressive? Absolutely,” he says. “Where I see the difference is that it’s become more of a thing in our society.”

“Schools are a microcosm of society,” he continues. “The message we don’t want to give is that it’s okay to be verbally aggressive.” 

According to a 2024 Brock University study that compared student behaviours from fall 2019 and 2022, school children are also becoming less civil in classrooms. Forty-two per cent of surveyed teachers said they witnessed students interrupting each other, texting during class, arriving late or packing up early. This is up from six per cent before the pandemic. 

The WQSB director general says their schools are taking proactive measures to prevent aggression, such as ongoing anti-bullying campaigns. Singfield also met with Quebec Ministry of Education representatives in mid-February to discuss their upcoming anti-violence week, taking place from March 17 to 21. Singfield could not provide specifics on the event because it’s still under discussion.

WQSB chairwoman Joanne Labadie says these kinds of events help remind parents about their schools’ strict anti-violence policies.

“I think that if you look at our data, our schools are very safe and there are very few incidents. But it’s always something we should keep on our radar to address when they come up,” Labadie says.

Employee assistance and counselling resources are also available to all WQSB staff members who are verbally abused, Singfield says.

“It’s part of their job to deal with all kinds of situations, but staff shouldn’t deal with it alone. The last thing we want to do is leave a staff member feeling isolated,” he says.

The Centre de services scolaire des Draveurs (CSSD) founded a regional committee in fall 2024 to combat uncivil classroom behaviour. Though the WQSB is not a part of this committee, Singfield says he’s informally discussed it with CSSD representatives.

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Black and white photo of person standing in front of a window with their back to the camera

‘Is there anything we can do?’

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by Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

Content warning: This article discusses suicide. If you’re struggling, help is available. You are not alone. Please reach out to a trusted friend, family member, or a professional. In Canada, you can call or text 988 for free, confidential support 24/7.

Declan Thomas was a friend, a brother and a chef. Patrick Thompson was a talented artist, an adoring uncle and an inspiration to young artists in the north. Jay Dubois was a village contractor and a loving father. 

These three young men – and many others who we didn’t mention out of respect for their families, were all part of the fabric that made the Gatineau Hills so special. They had loving mothers and fathers, friends, siblings, nieces and nephews, wives, kids and proud grandparents who loved them. They were young souls with futures ahead of them.

But for these three young men – and thousands more across Quebec – those dreams were never realized, those plans were never fulfilled and their family members were left devastated by the news that their loved ones had taken their own lives. All of these men died by suicide in the last five years. 

“With Declan, it was just out of the blue,” said Declan Thomas’ brother, Owain, speaking about the loss of his brother close to two years after his death in 2022. “He was quite secretive, and he didn’t share much. 

Nobody really knew the whole story of anything. If you knew Declan, you knew there’s a lot going on underneath.”

Owain has spent the last 24 months recovering and rebuilding his life from insurmountable grief that he said is impossible to describe. Just two months after his brother died by suicide, Owain’s wife Elyse Cragg took her own life. The father of a three-year-old not only mourned the death of his brother but also his wife – the mother of his only child.

“It was two suicides in two and a half months,” Owain told the Low Down. He’s stoic and collected after spending months in therapy and counselling. He said he wants to talk about suicide rates and the mental toll it takes on families left to pick up the pieces. “I was with my little boy, who was three and potty training, and I was alone in a town [in Brossard, QC] where I didn’t know anybody, and I had no family or friends around. It was rough. I tried to help Declan, and I tried to help her, too.” 

That “help” not only came in the form of counselling and therapy but also listening and trying to understand the issues Owain’s brother and wife were struggling with. Owain said what was hard to bear was his brother’s unwillingness to speak about his problems; that Declan did not feel strong enough to confront his struggles with drugs and alcohol, his loneliness or his growing self-shame. Owain said he did everything he could to help and still lost two loved ones to suicide. 

“I knew that Declan needed help and I tried to help him, but it just didn’t get addressed,” explained Owain. “A lot of people tried. And a lot of his girlfriends – most of his girlfriends – reached out to me and said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’”

Owain has since moved to Pincourt, QC, where he is “rebuilding” his life with his new partner Tiffany and her three young daughters. 

Men three times more likely to take their own lives 

A new suicide report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) states that men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women.

According to the report, these three local young men – Thomas, Thompson, and Dubois – are among the 4,924 Quebecers who have taken their own lives since 2017 and are among the 345 Outaouais residents who ended their own lives in that same period. The report also shows that suicides in Quebec have remained fairly consistent over the past several years, with 1,051 suicides recorded in 2020; 1,031 in 2021 and 1,102 in 2022. 

When looking at gender, the report shows that men are three times more likely to take their own lives than their female counterparts, with the adjusted suicide rate for women at 5.5 per 100,000 people compared to 18.6 per 100,000 for men. 

In the Outaouais, the suicide rate is above the provincial average. According to the report, the suicide rate in Quebec hovers at around 10 people per 100,000, while the Outaouais is around 13.9 per 100,000. 

The highest suicide rates in the province are in Nunavik, where a staggering 173 people per 100,000 residents take their own lives. 

While the stats are clear, the reasons behind why so many young men are taking their own lives are more complicated. The Low Down reached out to more than a dozen local, Quebec-based and Canadian psychologists and psychiatrists – none of them were willing to comment on the report or the growing crisis. 

However, research shows that “men account for almost three out of four ‘deaths of despair,’ from overdose or suicide,” according to American writer and social scientist Richard Reeves, who explores this in his 2022 book, ‘Of Boys and Men’. Reeves’ research has found the likelihood of men taking their own lives significantly higher than that of their female counterparts. 

“Opioid deaths are at about 70 per cent plus male; men are about four times more likely to commit suicide than women are,” Reeves told New York Times journalist Ezra Klein in 2023. “It’s risen by about 25 per cent as well over the last 10 years or so.” In his book, Reeves argues that the U.S. education system is placing boys at a disadvantage and explores why boys raised in poverty are less likely to escape than girls and why so many young men are seeking controversial figures like self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson, a well-known, Canadian psychologist who was forced to undergo social media sensitivity training after posting transphobic, racist and misogynistic tweets. Reeves said on Klein’s podcast that more and more young men are wondering where they fit in the world: “I think that sense of being needed is hugely important,” he said. 

A recent study by research fellow and suicide prevention expert Fiona Shand published in the British Medical Journal looked at the words that men used to describe themselves before suicide. The two words they most commonly used were “useless” and “worthless.”

An Angus Reid survey in 2021 found that 63 per cent of 18- to 34-year-old Canadian men experienced considerable loneliness and isolation, compared to 53 per cent of their female counterparts. These results are similar to a recent U.S. study, in which one in three young men said they always or often felt lonely, and more than a quarter said they had no close friends; again, higher than rates among young women.

These stats are not surprising to Wakefield resident Alexandre Bon-Miller, a men’s life coach, mentor and executive director at Boys to Men Canada, which helps young men “navigate towards self-awareness, growth and masculinity,” according to its website. His organizations hosts retreats for men aged 13-35 who are in “crisis or transition.” 

He was clear that he is not a psychologist but has been working with young men for over two decades. He said that while most suicide cases are unique and come with a “collection of influences and variables and aspects,” a lot of young men are feeling lost these days.

“I think one main thing is a lack of purpose, a lack of sense of direction and purpose and meaning,” Bon-Miller told the Low Down. “More than ever, young people are coming into a zeitgeist where they don’t trust authority; they don’t trust our institutions. So, there’s a cynicism and a mistrust and a nihilism that is only exacerbated through the culture war. This is where you get these young men looking around on the internet, [and] they find guys like Andrew Tate, and they follow down those paths.” 

A struggle to help those struggling

Part of the struggle for Bon Miller – and others – has been engaging young men to address their issues. It was a similar problem for Owain in getting his brother Declan to seek help, and it seems to be a constant struggle for families who may be aware of a loved one’s struggles but have no idea how to help them. This struggle is well documented, with the Angus Reid study showing that women are almost three times more likely to seek help through social services.

It’s a problem Danielle Lanyi said she is all too familiar with. The executive director at Connexions Resource Centre in Wakefield said that there are plenty of resources available to help those in crisis, but most people don’t know about them. Another huge barrier is that most of the help is through institutions, and they often come with long wait times for crisis intervention.  But she praised the CISSS’s Aire Ouvert program, which translates to “open space,” and that’s what it is. The service connects youth and parents with a network of specialists: psychologists, therapists, sexologists, nurses and social workers, who will meet either virtually or in-person to discuss anything from mental health and sexuality to drug addiction – and everything in between. The service is by appointment only and is available in both French and English. 

“I think they have done a good job so far,” said Lanyi. “They have numerous committees and focus groups with youth and parents, and they are also working with community organizations.” 

Lanyi referenced a long list of resources for those struggling with their mental health but added that Quebec is lacking in follow-up treatment after a patient goes through a crisis. 

“I find that the aftermath is when things start to really sink in,” said Lanyi, referring to either someone who has attempted suicide, someone struggling with a crisis or a family member dealing with the grief of losing a loved one to suicide. “People start processing and, you know, start to ask, ‘What are the next steps?’ And they’re just kind of left on their own.” 

Lanyi urges residents to use the Santé Québec 811 hotline if they are in a crisis, as the service isn’t solely a telephone support system. Lanyi said Quebec has social workers and nurses on the ground in the region. 

“If it’s a crisis, and if it’s a suicide crisis especially, I know that 811 also responds,” she said about the bilingual service. 

Maison le Ricochet in Masham is another local organization that helps transition those going through a mental crisis back into society. The organization has 21 beds throughout the municipality and offers everything from counselling and mental health support to rehabilitation programs that allow patients to work in the wood shop or their electronic recycling plant. The home has been in operation since 1990.

People like Owain, the Dubois family and the Thompsons know nothing will ever bring their brothers and sons back, nor will the pain of losing a loved one to suicide ever go away, but they are all candid about talking about suicide and mental health in the hopes that it could save someone going down that path. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. See our list of mental health resources to the right. And if you need immediate help, dial 911. 

If you need help…

Mental Health Resources:

  • Suicide.ca – Bilingual
    •  Prevention line: 1-866-APPELLE (277-3553)
  • Canada Suicide Prevention Service – Bilingual
    •  24-Hour Crisis Line: call/text: 988
  • Info-santé – Bilingual
    • 24-Hour Crisis Line: 811, press option #2 to speak with a social worker
  • Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region – Bilingual
    •  24/7 Crisis Line: 613-238-3311
  • Tel-Aide Outaouais – French Only
    • 24 hour helpline:: 819-775-3223 or toll-free: at 1-800-567-9699
  • L’Apogée
    • Centre for family and friends of a person living with a mental health disorder: 819-771-6488
    • www.lapogee.ca
  • Aire ouverte
  • Maison le Ricochet
    • Rehabilitation and social and professional reintegration services to individuals dealing with mental health issues of varying intensity. The organization offers accommodation services, workshops, and work programs with support and supervision 24/7. 
    • Phone: 819-456-4230
    • Email: maisonlericochet@qc.aira.com. 
    • Website: www.maisonlericochet.com, 
    • 9 Ch. de la Beurrerie, Masham.

Grieving Resources: 

  • Bereaved Families Ottawa: bfo-ottawa.org (English)
  • ROCSMO (Regroupement des organismes communautaires en santé mentale): santementaleoutaouais.ca (Bilingual)
  • Maison Alonzo-Wright: www.maisonalonzowright.com/nos-services 
  • Écoute Agricole: www.ecouteagricole.com/en
  • Ami-Québec: amiquebec.org
  • Entraide-Deuil-Outaouais: 819-770-4814 (French only)
  • Intersection (Deuil post-suicide): 819-568-4555 (French only)

‘Is there anything we can do?’ Read More »

Heritage College says Bill 96 unfair to students

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

editor@lowdownonline.com

Some Heritage College students will attend school on a weekend this year to prepare for Quebec’s French-language exit exam, a new requirement for those who don’t hold an English eligibility certificate. 

Heritage College’s academic dean Lisa Peldjak said the school is working on a mock exam for this October, where all non-certificate holders show up on a Saturday to measure themselves against the provincial standard in French. Those who struggle in the exam will have time to improve before the actual exam next spring. 

“This is going to be a real snapshot of what the French exit exam will look like,” said Peldjak. “They’re going to be here all day. It’s mandatory for the students to attend. And it’ll be worth grades. But they’re going to grade it like the French exit [exam] to give the students a taste of what the exam will be like.”

But Heritage’s director-general Terry Kharyati said he has no idea how many of these students will attend this mock exam in October, as the prospect of non-French speakers taking the same exit exam as their francophone counterparts has been a major deterrent for prospective students. 

“All students have the opportunity to feel welcome, first, and the accessibility to what is a great education,” said Kharyati. “But for some who’ve never taken French, it’s ominous. We see that already from students who are coming here from Ontario or who are from the Glebe High School [Ottawa]. If they come here, they’re considered non-anglo because they don’t have their English eligibility rights.”

“We’re recruiting students for basketball. We have students coming over from Ridgemont High School [in Ottawa],” added Kharyati. “But it’s getting more difficult to recruit from Ottawa schools.”

Part of the problem with the English eligibility certificates is that the Ministry of Education will only give them out to students who are currently enrolled in English high schools in Quebec. Those who have already graduated and request a certificate after they’ve graduated are being denied. Those who attend CEGEPs without the certificate will be required to write the province’s three-hour French exit exam, whereas those who hold the certificate will take an English exam.

The new CEGEP rules are part of the CAQ government’s implementation of Bill 96 – the province’s overhaul of the Charter of the French Language, which requires all non-English certificate holders to take the French exam. Bill 96 became Law 14 after it was passed in 2022, affecting how the charter applies to English CEGEPs in the province. Students who do hold English certificates will also have to take three additional French-language courses or three core courses in French, creating a two-tiered system for students. 

Peldjak explained that the college is using incoming high school grades in French, as well as a college assessment, to determine whether or not a student is placed in the advanced French stream. The advanced stream will allow students to take two French as a second language (FSL) courses, two complementary courses in French and one program-specific course in French. Non-advanced stream students will take a total of five FSL courses within their two years at the college. 

“Depending on the student and their level of French, they’re not all coming in being treated fairly or equally,” she said. 

Peldjak noted that students who are required to take the five FSL courses don’t have the option of taking complementary courses, which give them a “highlight into other interests that they might have.” These students, according to Peldjak, miss out on the entirety of other courses the college has to offer. 

The college won’t know how much of a deterrent these new rules will be on the student population until final enrollment numbers are reported in mid-September.

Heritage College says Bill 96 unfair to students Read More »

CISSSO forms new local healthcare committee

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

Outaouais’ healthcare provider (CISSSO) has formalized a collaboration agreement with a group of healthcare workers and community partners in the Pontiac to ensure greater local input on matters that affect residents of the region and improve accessibility, continuity and quality of services across the territory.
The group, which CISSSO refers to as a territorial committee, consists of 22 members, including CISSSO’s Pontiac director Nicole Boucher-Larivière.
Available members met at the CLSC in Shawville on Thursday morning to sign the final mandate agreement.
“The idea is that people [on this committee] will have responsibility to make sure we answer to the community and stay accountable to the population,” Boucher-Larivière said, noting the group has been meeting for about a year to determine its mandate.
She explained the committee will be critical in identifying healthcare priorities for the region, brainstorming strategies for developing those priorities, and sharing input on how limited resources should be allocated.
“There have been multiple evolutions of health and social services law so now we’re going back towards proximity,” Boucher-Larivière noted. “It took a certain time but this is the first step we’re taking towards trying to bring that back.”
The Pontiac region is the first in the Outaouais to sign such an agreement with the CISSS de l’Outaouais since services were centralized in 2015.
Josey Bouchard, founding member of local healthcare advocacy group Pontiac Voice, is one of the members of the new territorial committee.
“It’s basically consulting and sharing a little bit of what’s happening here, and if things aren’t working well, to advise on what they can do to try and make it better,” Boucher said, describing what she understands her role on the committee to be.
“I think it’s nice that at least they have our opinion of what’s happening. And hopefully it helps put a little more pressure on whoever is making the decisions.”
But, Bouchard said, she does not expect the collection of community leaders will have any real decision making power.
“As far as power, that I know of, we have none. It’s more of a consulting role.”
“We’re sort of a moral support – it sort of gives [Nicole] a bit more credit as to what she’s bringing forth to the higher ups.”

The committee’s other 21 members are CISSSO board of directors member Rémi Bertrand, Dr. Serge Boucher, Dr. John Wooton, MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller, MRC Pontiac director general Kim Lesage, Municipality of Pontiac mayor Roger Larose, Pontiac user committee president Jennifer Larose, healthcare advocate Josey Bouchard, Chamber of Commerce president Sébastien Bonnerot, SADC general director Rhonda Perry, seniors’ representative Richard Gratton, Dr. Isabelle Gagnon, Lisa Falasconi from the English school board, Denis Rossignol from the French school service centre, pharmacist Marc Aufranc, Michel Vallières from the Table de développement social du Pontiac, Shelley Heaphy from the Connexions Resource Centre, Bouffe Pontiac director Kim Laroche, Sara-Lynn McCann from Quyon’s Maison de la famille, Karim El Kerch from Carrefour jeunesse-emploi du Pontiac, and Joanne Dubois from CISSSO.
The group plans to meet four times a year.

CISSSO forms new local healthcare committee Read More »

CISSSO plans could see summer closure of OR

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Sophie Kuijper Dickson, LJI Reporter

Outaouais’s healthcare network, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), has prepared contingency plans to deal with anticipated staffing shortages over the summer that may, in the worst case scenario, see the region’s rural operating rooms shut down, with services moved to Hull and Gatineau hospitals, Le Droit reported last week.
The contingency plans, a copy of which was obtained by Le Droit but which has not yet been seen by THE EQUITY, detail a few different scenarios for the period of June 17 to Sept. 8, to deal with repercussions of greater staffing shortages that may arise when currently employed healthcare workers take their vacations.
These plans map out how CISSSO will reorganize personnel in rural and urban hospitals across its network, which even without the added pressure from summer vacations, is already understaffed.
According to Le Droit, one series of plans addresses various scenarios of shortages in the health network’s imaging sector, and the other series of plans deals with shortages in the network’s operating services.
In the worst case scenario, the Gatineau hospital would offer only limited emergency services, as well as mental health services and long-term care beds, and its entire radiology department could close completely, forcing the relocation of essential services including childbirth, intensive care and pediatrics, to the Hull hospital.
Also in this worst case scenario, the Hull hospital alone would take on the bulk of operations for the 400,000 people in the Outaouais, with operating rooms in Pontiac, Maniwaki and Papineau hospitals shutting down so that staff could be relocated to work in the operating room in the Hull Hospital.
THE EQUITY requested an interview with CISSSO president and CEO Marc Bilodeau on Thursday last week, and has been scheduled to speak with him this Wednesday.
Pontiac officials speak out
Last week provincial and federal elected officials for the Pontiac added their voices to the growing cries for immediate assistance in the Outaouais.
Pontiac MP Sophie Chatel wrote a letter to Quebec’s Minister of Health Christian Dubé and to Minister of Culture and Communication, Mathieu Lacombe, expressing her concerns surrounding the state of health care in the region.
“It is imperative that the Quebec government take urgent measures to prevent a breakdown in healthcare services in our region,” Chatel wrote, in French. “Although health comes under provincial jurisdiction, I would nevertheless like to express the urgency of the situation in the Outaouais.”
Her letter went on to cite several statistics that highlight the urgency of resolving the healthcare staffing shortage across the Outaouais region.
One set of statistics showed that in 2021, lung cancer patients in the region had the lowest survival rate in the province, in large part due to delays in requests for CT scans. She said the situation worsened when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was discontinued at the Gatineau hospital due to a shortage of technologists.
Chatel pointed to the region’s proximity to Ontario as the leading cause of the staffing shortage, and said while the bonuses offered by the Quebec government to staff in Hull and Gatineau hospitals is appreciated, this initiative needs to be extended to staff in rural hospitals.
“This measure must apply to healthcare staff in hospitals in rural regions of the Outaouais, such as Maniwaki, Buckingham, and Shawville, which are already weakened by the trend towards urbanization and over-specialisation in healthcare in Quebec and Canada,” the letter said.
Pontiac MNA and health critic for the official opposition André Fortin also continued to push for immediate solutions to address the growing crisis in the Outaouais.
“This is not a contingency plan. This is an announced catastrophe. What is the premier going to do about this?” Fortin asked in a question directed to Premier François Legault on May 22, regarding CISSSO’s contingency plans.
Minister of Health Christian Dubé responded to the question, explaining that the ministry asks every healthcare network across the province to come up with contingency plans going into the summer for best and worst-case scenarios.
Minister Dubé said his government is aware of the challenges posed by the competition with Ontario, and will do what it can to improve the situation, without providing specific details as to what immediate measures it would take.
Also last week, Fortin requested the province’s health and social services commission visit the Outaouais so they can see for themselves the urgency with which immediate and greater support from the province is needed.

CISSSO plans could see summer closure of OR Read More »

Citizen scientists needed to help save endangered turtles

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Glen Hartle, LJI Reporter

Why did the turtle cross the road? Because it had to. And that’s a problem.
Road mortality isn’t just an issue for the Sûreté du Québec and the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec. It is also an issue for a raft of organizations representing Mother Nature and they have mobilized in support of their mandate.
An Outaouais environmental organization, the Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO), has stepped up and undertaken a four-year project working to mitigate road mortality amongst the turtle populations of the region.
The initiative hopes to protect all turtles, but of particular concern are two species currently on the provincial, national and global endangered species lists: the Blanding’s turtle and the wood turtle. A third species, the northern map turtle, is additionally targeted by the project due to regional and national concerns.
The overall objective of the project, as articulated at its official launch in Sept. 2023, is to reduce the extent of road mortality of turtles in the Outaouais region by prioritizing actions targeting Blanding’s, wood and northern map turtle populations.
More specifically, the goal is to confirm the hotspots of turtle road mortality suggested by available mortality data.
Cénédra Poulin, the activity lead for CREDDO, indicates that while the project officially launched in the summer of 2023, the first phase is about to get under way.
“I think it’s going well so far. We had all the subsidies we asked for and we have a lot of volunteers interested in helping,” Poulin said.
During this initial phase, forecast to last from the middle of May to the middle of July, the project aims to confirm certain road mortality hotspots in the Outaouais through volunteer citizen mortality monitoring in several sectors of the region.
In the Pontiac, the initiative will be specifically focused on busy roadways in the municipalities of Bristol, Clarendon, and Shawville.
“We are searching for people that could spend a few hours per week between mid-May and mid-July, to survey always the same part of a road on a turtle watch,” Poulin said.
Areas of high mortality risk will also be identified, including locations where live turtles are spotted near roads.
“The MRC has a direct role in turtle protection,” said Kari Richardson, MRC Pontiac’s environmental coordinator and its representative for the project. She encouraged residents to report turtle sightings on the Nature Conservancy of Canada portal (https://carapace.ca).
“Once we know exactly where the hot spots are across the Pontiac, we can target awareness efforts, signage and perhaps even fencing, if it is required.”
Subsequent phases of the project will aim to implement measures to reduce road mortality at sites identified as hotspots during the first phase. These mitigation measures will include signage, fencing and wildlife crossings.
Partnering with CREDDO are the Outaouais’ four MRCs (Collines-de-l’Outaouais, Papineau, Pontiac and Vallée-de-la-Gatineau), la Fondation de la Faune du Québec, Nature Conservancy Canada, the National Capital Commission, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, the provincial and federal ministries of environment, and le Groupe de rétablissement des tortues du Québec.
From local to global
Locally, the conversation around conservation is ongoing, and turtles have been on the radar before. Regional art association artPontiac hosted a special “Call of the Turtle” exhibit in 2022 drawing attention to their plight and invited several experts from various organizations, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), to speak at the grand opening.
Provincially, Quebec’s environment ministry indicates that the Blanding’s turtle is considered threatened, meaning that it could disappear in short order. The wood turtle and northern map turtle are considered vulnerable, meaning that survival is considered precarious in the long-term.
At the national level, the Committee on the Status on Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) lists the Blanding’s turtle as endangered, meaning it is facing imminent extirpation (regional extinction) or global extinction. The wood turtle is listed as threatened, meaning that it is likely to become endangered if nothing is done to reverse the factors leading to its extirpation or extinction. The northern map turtle is listed as being of special concern, meaning that it is particularly sensitive to human activities or natural events.
At the global level, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List (IUCN Red List) lists both the Blanding’s turtle and the wood turtle as endangered. This list of threatened species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global extinction risk status of animal, fungus and plant species and is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. It is not an honour to appear on the list, rather, it is a call for action.
No matter how you read the above categorizations and classifications, the turtles are in danger, and CREDDO is hoping to change that reality by working with various stakeholders on environmental issues in mounting this conservation effort.
If you would like to be a part of the turtle project, contact cenedra.poulin@creddo.ca or k.richardson@mrcpontiac.qc.ca. Information and social media links can be found at: https://creddo.ca.

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