Virtual health care service neglecting N.B. Francophone users: language commissioner

A new report says its more difficult for francophone New Brunswickers to access virtual health care than English speakers.

New Brunswick’s Official Language Commissioner, Shirley MacLean, says Francophones in the province find it more difficult to access virtual health care than English speaking New Brunswickers.

“We continue to see health care related complaints representing the highest percentage of admissible complaints received,” she said.

More specifically, MacLean points to eVisitNB, a virtual healthcare platform for New Brunswickers.

Between October 29, 2022, and February 5, 2023, seven complaints were filed against eVisitNB regarding alleged deficiencies in the delivery of services in French and the office notes another complaint on May 24, 2023 where a French-speaking patient was shown a message that read “cannot understand what you wrote, sorry,” according to the report.

Following these complaints, MacLean said that their investigation found the technology used for health care through eVisitNB was not designed with the obligations under the Official Languages Act.

As a result, she says Francophone users have to jump through more hoops to get services in their chosen language.

“The online registration process requires that French speaking patients ensure that their registration particulars are in French if they wish to receive services in their official language choice. The Office of the Commissioner has clearly stated that this is a breach of the Official Languages Act and does not constitute an active offer of service as it imposes an additional requirement on francophone registrants,” she said during a media event on Tuesday.

Adding, “The critical portion that continues to be missing is the active offer of service. There is an additional level that a francophone user has to go through in order to access service to ensure that their log in particulars are set up in such a way so that the end user, the professional they’ll ultimately have contact with on the online platform, will know that they require service in the French language.”

At this point, she says the Department of Health has not corrected this feature or given reassurance that they will fix it.

“It also seems that the Department of Heath does not understand that when it calls on a third party to provide services on its behalf, it is the departments responsibility to ensure third party complies with all official language obligations,” said MacLean.

In total, the 91-page report highlighted a number of sectors, not just health care.

According to the annual report, which covers the period of time between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024, the office received 131 complaints, 66 were admissible.

Breaking it down, MacLean says eight of those complaints were alleging a lack of service in English and 58 alleged a lack of service in French.

Additionally, 46 complaints alleging a lack of service in French were carried over from previous years.

Overall, the number of complaints is down year-over-year which is a trend that has been seen for the last few years.

“The one thing I will say about official languages though is that I’m always aware and I’m out there talking to people, the complaints we receive, and I firmly believe this because people talk to me and I speak to official language coordinators in different government departments, the ones that we receive are a small microcosm of the ones that are out there,” she said.

“Many people will not complain.”

Commissioner MacLean also took the opportunity to state that the previous review of the Official Languages Act was a “missed opportunity to strengthen official language rights and to move the dial ahead towards substantive equality between New Brunswick’s two official linguistic communities.”

She is calling on the Holt Government to make adjustments and adopt more recommendations that were brought forward during the previous Finn-McLaughlin Report.

In a statement on Tuesday, Premier Susan Holt said her and her team were looking into the details around the matter, as well as hearing the commissioner’s recommendations.

“I’d like to thank Commissioner MacLean for her thoughtful and diligent report. We are committed to actioning recommendations from the Finn-Mclauglin report, this work is underway with the team to work out timelines and implementation. We’ve already taken steps forward by establishing the Legislative Standing Committee on Official Languages,” she said.

“Applying the Official Languages Act to long-term care may be relatively simple in terms of legislation, ensuring that people who enter LTC facilities actually receive services in the language of their choice is more challenging during a time of health care labour shortages, and will take more time.”

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