[lg policy] Canada: Hospital=?windows-1252?Q?=92s_?=bilingual policy irks mayor

[Harold Schiffman]

Hospital’s bilingual policy irks mayor


Greg Peerenboom, QMI Agency

First posted: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 11:13 PM EST | Updated:
Wednesday, February 08, 2012 11:16 PM EST


CORNWALL, ONT. - An eastern Ontario community is withholding payments
to its hospital’s redevelopment project because the hospital recently
implemented a bilingual policy. South Stormont council has decided to
start withholding annual $30,000 payments to the hospital.
The payment is part of a $300,000 donation South Stormont committed
between 2006 and 2015 to help offset the hospital’s $120-million
redevelopment project.

South Stormont Mayor Bryan McGillis said the suspension of payment is
an endorsement of former Cornwall Community Hospital (CCH) board
director Dr. Dany Tombler. Tombler has asked residents to withhold
donations to the hospital as a way of protesting the hospital’s recent
decision to implement the French Language Services Act (FLSA).

McGillis said the exclusion of Anglophone nurses has irked him for
awhile. “Last year, I had different complaints from nurses who are
Anglophones, saying they don’t have any opportunities to advance in
their career (at the hospital),” McGillis said. His deputy-mayor,
Tammy Hart, has criticized Francophone signage in the past.

“(The language policy) is a blatant injustice to English speaking
citizens in the area,” Hart said. McGillis said language rights should
not trump a person’s ability to find work, especially in their
hometown. “It’s not fair for our young people to go (to St. Lawrence)
college, who are born and raised here, and then don’t have an
opportunity to stay here.

“The scales have been tipped too far the other way (to accommodate
Francophones). “And I think a lot of people are going to support me in
this way of thinking.” The mayor said his township’s stance is not
being discriminatory. “Discrimination exists when a person or a group
gets prejudicial treatment,” McGillis said.

South Stormont’s “stop-cheque” resolution states that “council is of
the opinion that factors such as skill, ability, qualifications and
experience, etc. are also essentials to nursing care.” The resolution
will seek support of other local communities, including the City of
Cornwall. CCH board of directors president Helene Periard had not
heard of South Stormont’s resolution, and wasn’t prepared to respond
until she had received more information first-hand.

On Tuesday, Periard had expressed concern over the possibility the
flow of donations might be slowed as a result of Tombler’s opposition.
But she defended the bilingual policy, citing the FLSA mandate the
hospital is under to provide bilingual service to all patients and the
ability to serve the French-first-language segment of the city’s
population. Periard said less donations ultimately means fewer medical
resources for health professionals.


http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/08/hospitals-bilingual-policy-irks-mayor

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