Health Professions and Services Appeal and Review Boards

Last Thursday, I made a presentation to the Health Professions and Services Appeal and Review Boards. I would like to thank Chair Linda Lamoureux and the organisers for having a panel on Language rights.

While these Boards have clear obligations under the French Language Services Act, they deal with colleges that also have obligations under s.86 of the Regulated Health Professions Act which basically states that a person has the right to use French in all dealings with their college. In other words, it really does help that a review Board would conduct a hearing in French. But if all the necessary paper work for the investigation prepared by the college is entirely in English, it could have dire consequences for a person under investigation.

In my second annual report (page 46), I wrote: “The Commissioner’s Office was able to resolve complaints which were difficult to categorize, and to markedly improve the quality and availability of French-language services. This was due, in large measure, to the cooperation and willingness of the institutions and agencies involved, in spite of the fact that they are not directly subject to the French Language Services Act.”