Gatineau, Oct. 4, 2002 - What Can You Do For Your Local Health Institutions? - By Julie Fine
As an English-speaking resident of West Quebec, what have you done to support the local institutions that serve your needs?
Many parents of students enrolled in a school in the Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) give many hours of their time and countless calories of energy as they serve on Home and School Associations, Governing Boards and Parents' Committee. The WQSB after all is an English institution addressing the unique set of values of the English-speaking community.
Health, however is a different domain, one in which the English minority must sink or swim within the French-speaking majority's institutions.
There is a shortage of English-speaking nominations to the boards of our local health institutions (CLSCs, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and youth centers). How can we explain this shortage? At the rate that some English-speakers complain about the health care they receive, one might think these people would be clamoring to get on a board where they could turn their concerns into concrete social improvements!
At many committees and boards charged with the important task of giving direction to institutions that supply health services of our region, the particular needs of English-speaking patients often goes unsaid, and the opportunity to create awareness of English-speaking issues is often missed.
Why? Because there is a deliberate and malicious intent on the part of French-speakers on the committees to suppress them? Because the system is biased against participation of English-speakers? No, and no. Would you believe it's because English-speakers choose not to participate, though invited, on these boards vital to effective service of the English-speaking community of our region.
It would seem that, with the notable exception of several long-standing individual volunteers, there is not a strong tradition of English-speaking residents participating on committees and boards of the institutions in their community. To be fair, there is a restricting factor which leaves out many of our number: the requirement to operate fairly fluently in French, the operational language of these boards and committees.
It is up to each of us as individuals to decide such participation is indeed vitally important, and to make time to serve on these boards. It can be a rewarding experience where you can make a real contribution, and you get to brush up on your listening and speaking skills in French, for free!!
Unfortunately, this year's deadline for nomination to these local health boards has just passed (Sept. 23), but do consider for next year taking your seat at the table, and offering your input into the decisions being made on service delivery. It is critical that English-speaking West Quebecers nominate themselves for seats on the various institutional bodies. As John F. Kennedy might have said, ask not what [West Quebec institutions] can do for you, ask what you can do for [West Quebec Institutions]!
Contact the West Quebecers office for information on how to get involved. 682-9602. www.westquebecers.com.
Julie Fine is the Executive Director of the Regional Association of West Quebecers. Mrs. Fine chairs the English Advisory Committee to the Regional Health Régie.