Santé Québec gives the green light for Digital Health Record, Fréchette wants assurances

Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, right, makes a funding announcement alongside Minister of Health Sonia Belanger, at the Rosemont-Maisonneuve Hospital in Montreal on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press)

Late on Thursday, Santé Québec approved the May 9 launch of two pilot projects for the controversial Digital Health Record (DSN) in Montreal and the Mauricie region, while Premier Christine Fréchette stated on the same day that she is prepared to halt the scheme if she does not receive the necessary assurances.

Over the past few weeks, numerous professionals and opposition parties have raised concerns and highlighted risks regarding the DSN, this ambitious digital transformation of the health-care network managed by Santé Québec, which could cost up to $3 billion.

On Thursday evening, Santé Québec issued a press release stating that its board of directors had officially approved the roll-out on May 9.

“This decision marks a decisive step in the rigorous and structured implementation of this major digital transformation project,” the statement read.

The day before, the agency had assured that it was ready and that there was no point in changing the May 9 date.

The government nevertheless still reserves the right of veto, as suggested on Thursday afternoon by the premier, as well as the Health Minister, Sonia Bélanger.

“Things are progressing very, very well,” said Fréchette at a news conference at Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal.

“If the guarantees are not met, we will not go ahead with the project,” she added, though she remained optimistic that they could be secured in the coming days.

“We are on track for May 9,” said Bélanger.

She added that she was specifically requiring a formal recommendation from the oversight committee, the president of Santé Québec and the organization’s board of directors. It was this recommendation from the board of directors that was announced in a press release late on Thursday afternoon.

“I will ensure that the indicators are in the green before giving the go-ahead,” the minister assured.

It was the government itself that had decided on the phased roll-out of the DSN, starting with “showcase projects” on an experimental basis to avoid setbacks.

The Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec and Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal CIUSSSs have already planned reductions in clinical activities of up to 50 per cent to ensure a “safe transition,” in the words of the president of the Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal CIUSSS, Adelaide De Melo.

However, assurances have been given that urgent or “important” activities, such as oncology and A&E, will not be scaled back.

Since the SAAQclic scandal—the Automobile Insurance Corporation’s digital transformation, which will cost over $1 billion in total—the CAQ government has been treading carefully regarding the management of its digital projects and wishes to proceed with caution.

Yet the DSN is a far more ambitious digitization project expected to cost between $1.5 and $3 billion.

In April, the Minister for Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Gilles Bélanger, had suggested that the DSN was heading for an “obvious derailment,” until he was removed from his post in the reshuffle carried out by Fréchette on Tuesday and walked out on Wednesday in the name of his “principles and values.”

He was particularly concerned about “sovereign data protection,” given that the chosen solution comes from the American company Epic.

On Wednesday, Santé Québec sought to reassure the public by stating that the data would be hosted in Montreal and Toronto, that there would be “full traceability,” that it would be protected and encrypted at all times, and that no one could use the data without the agency’s authorization.

However, a researcher and anesthetist quoted by the Journal de Québec argued that these were misleading statements, since “under U.S. law, jurisdiction follows the ownership of the company, not the location of the server.”

The DSN is a solution designed to merge no fewer than 400 different IT systems within the network.

Broadly speaking, it is a system that allows professionals within the network to view and update a patient’s digital medical record with all its data in real time, from the moment they take charge of their care.

Santé Québec reiterated that the chosen solution had been tried and tested.

It is already in use in 16 countries, covering 2,800 hospitals, 125,000 beds, 70,000 clinics and 580,000 doctors, with a total of 317 million users.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 23, 2026.