Dear editor,
I had to make a trip to the hospital over the weekend with my 3 year old son who was suffering from an ear infection. I must say that I was pretty relieved that all of the staff I dealt with could speak French since my son does not understand any English. From the nurses at the triage and registration desks to the nurse and doctor that examined my son in the ER, the fact that they were bilingual took away all of the fear and anxiety for my son. It was very comforting for him to be able to understand their questions and to be able to respond on his own. It made for such an easier visit. The elderly patient ahead of us was also able to receive treatment and services in his language, English, because of our highly competent staff at the hospital. Here we have yet another reason why Cornwall needs it’s bilingual staff at the hospital. A big thanks to all of the staff involved in my sons visit last Sunday morning, March 11th. Your professionalism was much appreciated.
Daniel Léger
Cornwall, Ont.
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Generous of you to print the above letter which is certainly sent by a “shill”. Why would a kid not be able to speak English?
I doubt the high level of care provided by the staff was ever a question, the level of testing requirements & how many postions “need” to be bilingual are.
Hope your child is OK and the waiting time was at a minimum.
@ Eric. .the child is 3 years old and maybe the language spoken at home is French primarily and he has not learned any yet… geez… A French family is entitled to speak their language at home or anywhere as far as that goes..
@Wow. .the child is 3 years old and maybe the language spoken at home is French primarily and he has not learned any yet… geez… A French family is entitled to speak their language at home or anywhere as far as that goes..
sorry my comment was to Wow not Eric
This letter just confirmed that there have never been any problems with providing service in the French language at the hospital, in the first place. Why is the hospital acting as if there is suddenly a “need” for French language services?
Lulu, I appreciate the clarification. I take nothing personal on internet boards, views and facts are my focus since life is short, although a critique by a boards Admin has some weight. LOL
Lulu, your assumption is that there was a problem with communication that the new hospital policy will fix. No one was ever turned away from Cornwall’s hospitals and everyone received the best care that was possible, in both languages. Problems were created by the current hospital board with their discriminatory hiring policy.
Reg.. No I am not assuming there was or is a problem with communication that the new hospital policy will fix…..I am having great difficulty understanding the new policy or law all of it.. why is the union not stepping in to protect it’s workers if the workers are right? and this is unjust? .. never seen that before especially over something like this..
@Reg again.. “hospital board discriminatory hiring policy” How can this be? Hospitals receive funding from Provincial and Fed… How can they make up their own hiring policy and get away with it?
@Lulu. Nice try, again at spinning.
FYI, hospital receives funding, but the Board administers it. Also, FLSA is a broad policy and does not prescribe the number of bilingual positions – it is solely at the discretion of the hospital.
@Tom FYI I am not spinning anything.. I am a former QC been here about 1.5 years.. never heard any of this nonsense there and explained over and over am trying to understand this situation! No further comments from me on here!!!!
Do you mean to further comments from “Lulu” but continuing from “it’s ain perfect but it’s our”? lol
There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding over this policy. The hospital is not being asked to withdraw bilingual services – it is being asked NOT to advertise ALL positions for nurses to be “bilingual required”. There are enough front-line services to be staffed by bilingual staff – there is no need to make bilingualism one of the necessary qualifications. Yes, it is an asset, that is undeniable. We have to be confident that nurses are engaged because they have superior Qualification & Experience, NOT because they can pass a high-level French test. Even conversational French is sufficient to make a patient comfortable. Nurses don’t need to give high-level medical explanations or instructions to patients – even English-speakers don’t get that luxury. Very often, written explanations or instructions are given and the patients read them for their own benefit. The hospital is being stubborn because they are getting funding from the Liberal provincial government to stay stubborn. Mayor McGillis is right to withdraw funding and it is a shame that the other councils haven’t got the guts to do the same. Voters in those areas should pay heed – your councilors are not acting in your best interests or those of your families. More people than ever are leaving Ontario – unfortunately, they are the better educated and the better qualified who can find good opportunities in other parts of Canada.
You think your kid should also be able to speak English, you moron. Really how stupid can you be? What if your son was lost in any part of Canada where most of us speak English??? How the hell would he communicate? You people really are that stupid.
The simple facts are as more francophone’s get hired for all government positions less and less English speakers are working for their own governments across the country. Don’t believe me; Go check the stats for yourself. Francophone’s are over-represented in all levels of government including hospitals, law, policing…etc. No fairness, no representation by population. They call it bilingualism, yet the term is never defined on purpose and believe me it doesn’t mean fluency in 2 languages in Canada, at least to the French it doesn’t. No political party will speak for the English speaking majority in this province and country. Practical bilingualism, where numbers warrant… is never defined on purpose. In Ontario, NB it now means segregation. The French (they are actually metis, a mixed race, not french) are demanding French only facilities all over the province, not bilingual, French only. $ Bilingualism is really nothing more then a hiring quota for francophone’s and that is a fact…just ask yourself, why are francophone’s over-represented in all government jobs and how come more and more positions are being designated bilingual all the time? And just as important, how come they are NOT fluently bilingual? Some can barely speak English!
See whats really going on here?
So while Quebec bans the English language (bill 22, bill 178, bill 101…), wipes out its real BNA, UEL history, while ethnic language cleansing is going on in Quebec, the rest of the country is forced to fund whatever the French (metis) demand. This is going on in every province. Go check.
Time to end this phony bilingual jobs scam in Ontario.