The province’s Official Languages Commissioner says some of the complaints her office responded to between April 2020 and March 2021 were about hospital staff unable to serve a unilingual patient. The period saw the second-highest number of admissible complaints, at 127. Fredericton's Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital saw an investigation in a case where a patient wasn’t offered service in French in four of five interactions with hospital staff. Another case saw the complainant call the Oromocto Public Hospital to book an appointment for breast cancer screening where the employee was unable to conduct a conversation in French. There were also complaints against two Vitalité Health Network hospitals about "deficiencies" in English services. The Official Languages Commissioner said complaints such as these usually arise from staffing shortages.
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N.B. Official Languages Commissioner reports second-highest number of complaints, details investigations into hospital services
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October 28, 2021