New Brunswick hospital ordered to pay man $5K because staff didn’t speak French

The Moncton Hospital is shown in Moncton, N.B., on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues across Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ron Ward

A New Brunswick court has ordered an anglophone health network in the province to pay $5,000 to a Moncton man for violating his language rights.

Paul Ouellet launched a lawsuit against Horizon Health Network after alleging staff at the Moncton Hospital failed to serve him in French on numerous occasions in 2020. At the time, he had been overseeing the care of his sister at the hospital’s psychiatric unit.

He identified 13 separate instances, between May and August 2020, when he said staff were unable to serve him in French.

Dominic Caron, Ouellet’s lawyer, described the case as groundbreaking, saying this is the first time a court in New Brunswick has awarded damages to someone after their language rights were violated.

Caron said previous cases have typically revolved around collective language rights.

“It certainly sets a precedent,” he said.

Judge Maya Hamou of the Court of King’s Bench issued her decision on Oct. 31, also ordering the Horizon Health Network to pay an additional $7,500 to cover Ouellet’s legal fees.

She concluded Ouellet’s right to communicate in his mother tongue was repeatedly violated by the health network, and that its hospital’s failure to communicate with him in French violated his rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and language legislation in the province.

Lawyers for Horizon had argued against Ouellet’s allegations by pointing out he frequently switched between English and French, the judge’s ruling notes. They had also described his behaviour toward staff at the hospital as being intimidating and threatening at times.

However, neither of those defences met the bar of being legitimate reasons for violating his language rights on numerous occasions, Hamou wrote.

“It’s understandable that a member of the public who is unable to receive services in the language of their choice may become frustrated and may resort to using another language, which is not their language of choice, in order to communicate,” the judge added.

Though the amounts Horizon has been ordered to pay was lower than Caron would have liked, he said he still hopes it will act as a deterrent.

“It sends a strong message that the government, and any kind of public institution, that they must be vigilant in ensuring respect of people’s language rights,” the lawyer said.

The judge handled Ouellet’s case in an expedited manner, the lawyer said, through a motion for a summary judgment, rather than through going ahead with a full trial, which also leaves him optimistic for how it could handle similar cases moving forward.

“That sets a precedent as well, in that if people’s language rights in New Brunswick are breached, they don’t necessarily have to go through a full trial, which is very expensive,” the lawyer added.

Horizon said it accepts the court’s ruling and doesn’t intend to appeal it.

“Horizon remains committed to providing services in both official languages to all patients and members of the public in accordance with our obligations under the Official Languages Act,” Gail Lebel, the network’s vice-president, said in a written statement.

The province’s Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.