Fact-checking the health care access for anglos
Aaron Derfel fact-checks an open letter from three Quebec government ministers on access to health care for anglos. Derfel finds discrepancies which suggest that the ministers either aren’t familiar with the letter of the law, or are trying to soften the facts for political reasons.
We have to remember that, when push comes to shove, the law is what’s written in the bill, not what’s said by a minister in the media.
Some federal Liberal MPs are speaking up on the issue.
Ian 10:27 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
I wrote to my (Liberal) MP:
Trudeau has been useless wrt Quebec’s rise in ethnonationalism.
With Bill 96, Quebec insists anglophones show “ayant droit” papers proving they are “historical anglophones” under Quebec law to get medical service in English… that you can only get if you are under 18 and a resident of Quebec.
It’s alarming on a Federal level in that it means anyone from the ROC can’t get medical care in English- a clear violation of Federal charter laws. Do you intend to stand with Housefather and Gainey, and support your anglophone constituents?
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If you would like to write to your MP, here is how to find out who they are and their contact info:
https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en
Also worth noting, mail may be sent postage-free to any member of Parliament.
PatrickC 11:08 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
I share Ian’s alarm, but let’s not forget that getting medical services in French in much of the rest of Canada is not exactly easy.
jeather 11:16 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
Ah yes, the “it’s worse for francophones in the ROC (except maybe NB) so quit yer bitching” argument. I see it in every thread on twitter.
Meezly 11:31 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
I guess the difference is that the CAQ are knowingly setting up English language barriers to deliberately restrict healthcare access for anglophones. See? This is what it’s like for francophones to live in an English-dominant society. Now we want you to experience it too. It’s malicious and spiteful. And then, to mislead the public with this open letter. Yes, alarming and dangerous.
Blork 13:43 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
What Meezly said. If a Francophone can’t get service in French in some town in Saskatchewan or Ontario it’s entirely because of logistics/demographs. It’s not because there is a law that says THIS FRANCOPHONE DOCTOR IS NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK TO THIS FRANCOPHONE PATIENT IN FRENCH.
bob 14:04 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
I really don’t get the knee-jerk apologism for this endless stream of legislated bigotry.
dwgs 16:04 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
Stockholm syndrome
Uatu 16:14 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
Doesn’t he have other concerns like actually getting doctors in the first place?
Joey 16:20 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
An elderly woman in our family (who doesn’t really speak French, certainly not since her dementia took hold) has been in a CHSLD since the spring. There were no beds available in any of the facilities near her home (or family) so she wound up in a hospital – where she will live out her remaining days – where none of the staff speak English. The notion that “going forward” access to healthcare in English will be diminished/rationed mischaracterizes how much of the healthcare system already poorly serves non-majority citizens.
Ian 19:24 on 2024-08-09 Permalink
Ugh, that’s rough. 2nd languages often go fast in dementia. I was lucky with my Dad getting picked up and sent to the Jewish the first time he fell down and didn’t know where he was so we got in their system – and ended up in a home catering mostly to Jewish residents. Everyone spoke English and French, some even spoke Yiddish. I was briefly comnsidering bringing him to Gatineau before the home was a sure thing.