Ominous signs at St. Mary’s: patients’ group
Criticizes reduced size of English at officially bilingual hospital
The patient-rights committee of St. Mary’s Hospital is accusing the administration established under Health Minister Gaétan Barrette of making changes to signs, letterhead and other communications that appear to favour French to the detriment of English.
The issue is a highly contentious one among members of the users’ committee, who note that St. Mary ’s was founded by Montreal’s Irish Catholic community and is considered an officially bilingual hospital that continues to serve thousands of English-speaking patients each year.
Despite its bilingual status, St. Mary’s no longer uses bilingual letterhead on its official communications, the Montreal Gazette has learned. What’s more, some patients who have written to the hospital administration in English about various matters have complained that they receive responses in French only, a longtime users’ committee member said. And for more than a year, the users’ committee has tried in vain to persuade the Pointe-Claire-based administration — known as the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal — to switch the signs back to the old format featuring French and English lettering of the same size, with the French predominating.
The signs now in place appear to be inspired by the French Language Charter’s provisions for commercial signs — not for hospitals — with the French lettering “predominating markedly.” The French lettering is not only in bold, but is larger than the English lettering. The English is in a different, thinner typeface and is also indented below the French, which members of the users’ committee argue is confusing, especially on signs that show long lists of hospital clinics.
“Before, you were able to read the signs without having to squint,” said the committee member, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
“In other words, if you were able to read the French, you were able to read the English.
But compared to now, I’ve got to literally put my nose to the wall to read it.”
“Since many of our clientele are of a certain age and are visually impaired due to old age, they have great difficulty reading the signs in English,” the member added. “Most of our clientele are nonfrancophones.”
The users’ committee obtained a legal opinion last year, which affirmed the current signage is not in conformity with the language charter. The legal opinion argued that the French and English lettering should be of equal size, with the French predominating.
What that means is that the French should either come before the English on signs or be shown on top of the English, according to the legal opinion.
The committee member said the patients’ group sought the opinion because the CIUSSS administration “is screwing around with us.”
In April 2015, St. Mary’s lost its entire board and executive director under a cost-cutting reform spearheaded by Barrette. The Côte-des-Neiges hospital came under the authority of the West Island CIUSSS, based out of the offices of the Lakeshore General.
None of St. Mary’s managers were recruited to be part of the new management team at the CIUSSS. Many of the new administrators who joined the team were francophones with little experience in dealing with the anglophone and multi-ethnic patient population of St. Mary’s, sources told the Gazette.
The management vacuum at St. Mary’s also coincided with the steepest budget cuts in the hospital’s history, prompting concerns the government was seeking to downsize the institution.
St. Mary’s old signs were taken town and replaced with the current signage soon after the West Island CIUSSS was formed. Ironically, the signage at the Lakeshore General was not changed, and it still features French and English lettering of equal size.
Several blocks to the north of St. Mary’s, the Jewish General Hospital posts signs with French and English lettering of the same size, the French predominating. So does the McGill University Health Centre. The Jewish General belongs to another CIUSSS, while the MUHC manages itself.
The Gazette sent a series of questions in English by email to the public-affairs department of the West Island CIUSSS, copied to Lynne McVey, the newly appointed executive director. Officials responded in French, at first denying any of the signs at St. Mary’s had been changed.
In a second email, an official, Caroline Dubé, stated in French that “the signage at St. Mary’s Hospital was conceived about five years ago.”
St. Mary’s 2014 annual report includes a photo that year — four years ago — of the stroke unit featuring a sign under the old format. St. Mary’s annual reports used to be published in English and French. The hospital’s last annual report in 2015 was published in French only.
In response to a question about how much the CIUSSS spent changing St. Mary’s signs, Dubé said a reporter would need to file an access-to-information request to obtain that information, a potentially months-long process.
Another CIUSSS official asserted that St. Mary’s is respecting the language charter.
The Gazette sent the Office québécois de la langue français (OQLF), which enforces the language charter, pictures of St. Mary’s signs.
Jean-Pierre Le Blanc, a spokesperson for the OQLF, said the “agency does not make a public pronouncement on specific cases or on the choices made by companies, organizations and institutions to comply with the law.”
Under Article 24 of the language charter, schools and hospitals “may erect signs and posters in both French and another language, the French text predominating.”
Meanwhile, Article 58 stipulates commercial signs “may also be in French and in another language provided that the French is markedly predominant.”
Asked to explain the difference between “predominant” and “markedly predominant,” Le Blanc responded that the OQLF considers that in the latter case, the French lettering is “about double” the size.
Geoffrey Chambers, president of the English-rights Quebec Community Groups Network, declined to comment on the concerns of St. Mary ’s users’ committee, saying he needed more information.
However, Chambers noted that under Barrette’s reform, known as Bill 10, “an interested group of people involved” with an “amalgamated institution such as any of St. Mary’s, the Douglas (and) the Lakeshore may ask the minister to constitute an advisory committee.”
“Upon such a request, the minister must approve the creation of an advisory committee,” Chambers added.
“It has a statutory mandate to make recommendations to the board of directors of the CIUSSS regarding measures to be implemented to preserve the linguistic, cultural, historic or local character of the ... amalgamated institution.”
The CIUSSS administration never disclosed this option to St. Mary ’s users’ committee, the longtime member said.
Informed of the option now, the member said the users’ group will likely appeal to Barrette to strike up an advisory committee to preserve St. Mary ’s linguistic, cultural and historic character — with signs that can be clearly read in English.