Brother of patient takes Horizon to court over language violation

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A man is asking for a Court of King’s Bench judge to rule on whether Horizon Health Network and the Department of Health violated his linguistic rights when staff refused to give him service in French, something Horizon says didn’t happen.

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Plaintiff Paul Ouellet said in the motion that he had a sister who was a patient in The Moncton Hospital’s psychiatry department.

In the statement, Ouellet gave examples of occasions where he believed his linguistic rights were violated between Aug. 4, 2018 and Aug. 2, 2020, when he said he spoke French to Moncton Hospital employees either in person or over the phone, and the staff member answered him in English.

In the motion for a summary judgement, Ouellet is looking for the judge to rule that the health authority violated his linguistic rights, according to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Law of Official Languages by not offering him services in French. A motion for summary judgement is motion asking for a judge to rule on a matter without going to a full trial.

In addition to punitive damages and undefined legal costs, Ouellet is asking the judge to give an ordinance that Horizon and the provincial Department of Health must adopt measures to prevent violation of linguistic rights in the future.

In most of the cases, according to the statement, the call or visit was to get an update on his sister’s condition. In the majority of instances the employees were unable to speak French, and asked him to speak in English, Ouellet alleges in his filing.

In a statement of defence, Horizon requested the matter be dismissed, saying its staff was frequently interacting with Ouellet, but denied the allegation that the health authority violated Ouellet’s constitutional and legislative rights. Horizon also asked for Ouellet to provide “formal proof.”

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The health authority said in its statement that nurses and other employees provide services to patients in the language of their choice, and that members of the public who communicate with staff are able to receive services in the language of their choice.

Horizon said there are bilingual employees in the psychiatry and cardiology units, but noted in the evening when there are fewer staff a bilingual employee may not be able to come to the phone immediately because patient care is their top priority.

According to Horizon’s Official Languages Policy on its website Horizon “actively offers and provides services of equal quality to patients and the public in both official languages during all hours of operation without undue delay,” and “ensures that patients and members of the public have the right to communicate in their official language of choice, no matter where health services are offered.”

In his statement, Ouellet claims, he was speaking with a staff member from the psychiatry department over the phone on Oct. 12, 2018, and the person asked him to call back later because no one who spoke French was working.

On July 6, 2020, the statement claims, an employee in the psychiatry department could not speak French, but put him in contact with an employee from the pediatric unit who could speak French. However, that staff member could not provide him an update on his sister.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

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However, Ouellet’s statement also points to a report from the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick on the same allegations between February 2019 and June 2019. The report determined that Ouellet’s complaints were “in large part founded.”

According to that report, the investigation by the commissioner’s office found that for 12 of the 13 incidents, the hospital did not respect the complainant’s language rights.

The commissioner’s report concluded some employees had not developed the reflex of making an active offer of service and using the contingency plan if they are unable to speak the official language of the recipient of the service.

“Furthermore, and this is troubling at the very least, the Official Languages Act (OLA) violations occurred over more than three months, ” the report stated. “In many respects, all the measures, tools, and protocols needed for delivering services in both official languages by the Horizon Health Network are in place but are not being used or complied with by some employees.”

The report recommended that Horizon’s Official Languages Department carry out monthly audits of the Moncton Hospital’s psychiatry unit on the active offer of service and use of the contingency plan by employees, that the Horizon CEO sent the results of the audits to the official language commissioner’s office every six months, as well as having official language satisfaction surveys made available to visitors.

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Ouellet’s motion alleges both the health authority and health department were aware of the report’s conclusion, and continued to ignore his linguistic rights even afterwards.

The case is expected to be heard on Nov. 4, and the proceedings are scheduled to last for one day.

A conference was held via telephone on July 8 to settle some last-minute questions prior to the upcoming hearing. Justice Maya Hamou said she would like Ouellet’s lawyer Dominic Carron to have any supplementary affidavits filed by the beginning of September to give all parties the ability to review the files.

Hamou noted if Ouellet is not successful in receiving a summary judgement the matter would proceed to trial. The other parties have until Oct. 18 to file their affidavits.

Ouellet was unable to be reached for comment. The Department of Health, Horizon, and the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages declined comment, citing the active legal matter.

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