A request for class action was filed Tuesday in Superior Court against the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ). The plaintiff seeks compensation on behalf of the hundreds of candidates who have failed the order’s entrance exam since January 2021.
The plaintiff named Jason Aurélien wishes to obtain the status of representative of the class action. It was the Montreal firm Belton lawyers which undertook the procedure.
“What we are asking the court for is an amount of $30,000 for each member of the group. An amount which can be weighted according to the specific damages [à chacun] », specifies Me Fernando Belton in interview with The Canadian Press. The sum of $7,500 is claimed as non-pecuniary damages for the harm suffered and the sum of $22,500 is claimed for the pecuniary losses suffered.
According to the content of the request, the applicant is a candidate for the practice of the nursing profession (CEPI) aged 24. He obtained his college diploma in December 2021. Since then, he has failed the controversial OIIQ professional exam three times.
Mr. Aurélien was notably part of the cohorts of candidates for the September 2022 and March 2023 sessions, where the abnormally high failure rate was the subject of an investigation by the commissioner for admission to professions. The latter revealed that the review had methodological flaws calling into question its validity and reliability.
Me Fernando Belton, who signs the petition, claims pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages for his client as well as for any person “who has failed at least once the professional entrance exam [de l’OIIQ] between January 2021 and September 2023.
Professional orders benefit from a form of immunity from prosecution due to article 193 of the Professional Code. This protection aims to allow them to play their role of protecting the public by forcing the courts to presume their good faith. Now, Me Belton believes he can overcome this obstacle.
According to the lawyer, the order would not have respected the requirements of the Professional Code, because it would have “systematically demonstrated serious carelessness in the preparation” of its exam, he wrote. He says he draws this conclusion based on the various reports filed by the Commissioner for Admission to Professions.
“We believe, after looking at the case law, the law, that we are in a case of serious carelessness here. The successive reports of [commissaire] are very clear, the recommendations are clear, and despite this the order has stubbornly refused to follow them,” he added in an interview.
The applicant named in the motion failed the exam three times before taking the test a fourth time last September. He still has not obtained his result for this last test.
However, he claims to have had a very difficult time with this fourth attempt, saying that “his body [le] coward, [sa] head spins, [son] body is heavy, [il est] tired and no longer able to concentrate,” we read in the motion filed early Tuesday morning.
Still according to the plaintiff’s allegations, his repetitive failures led him to fear that he would never be able to obtain his professional title; to doubt his skills; to a loss of self-esteem; and even go through depressive episodes.
All persons affected by the appeal who wish to register as a member can do so by completing an electronic form on the Belton lawyers website.
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