Six months after the government authorized it, it is still impossible to obtain a health insurance card with an “X” marker. The Régie de l’assurance maladie (RAMQ) says it is unable to do so, as regulatory changes by Quebec are necessary.
At the beginning of March, François Legault’s government had allowed people who wanted to do so to begin procedures with the relevant authorities to get their hands on their new identity document with the mention “X” – for “non-binary”.
In April, RAMQ spokesperson Caroline Dupont maintained that the issuance of new cards would be done “soon, certainly.” The same goes for the Minister responsible for the Status of Women, Martine Biron, who went so far as to say that they would be available at the beginning of May.
However, after checking, the RAMQ has still not had the opportunity to send the people concerned the long-awaited identity documents. In response to questions from the DutyThis week, the organization’s public affairs coordinator, Stéphanie Beaulieu, indicated that we would have to wait for a new regulation to come into force in Quebec.
“If it is enacted, the RAMQ will ensure that citizens wishing to have an “X” placed on their health insurance card are informed of the procedure to follow in a timely manner,” she wrote.
The said regulation will first have to appear in the Official Gazette of Quebec before being applied on the ground. Without specifying a date, the government of François Legault maintains that the sending of the first cards “is planned for the fall.”
” As [elles sont utilisées] “In a clinical care context, it is necessary to take the time to properly transition with the network,” said the office of Health Minister Christian Dubé in an exchange of text messages on Wednesday.
Two years of waiting
Earlier this year, the RAMQ indicated that it had received from the Directeur de l’état civil the files of some 500 people wishing to change their gender designation. Until they receive a new piece of identification, “these people can use their current card to obtain the care and services they need,” indicated Minister Dubé’s press attaché, Audrey Noiseux, on Wednesday.
Joined by The Dutytrans rights activist Celeste Trianon reported seeing “a lot of frustration” from those affected in recent months. “I see a lot of people who have been waiting since mid-2022, late 2022. That’s a lot of people who are desperate,” she said.
In June 2022, François Legault’s government passed a bill aimed in particular at allowing the addition of a mention of non-binarity on civil status documents. A few months earlier, a Superior Court judgment had ruled that certain provisions of the Civil Code “prevent[aient] that the gender identity of transgender or non-binary people […] is reflected on identity documents.
In the months following the adoption of the new law, several people complained about not having access to their “sun card” with an “X” marker. Alexe Frédéric Migneault, a non-binary person, made headlines by starting a hunger strike to get the RAMQ to respect the principle of the legislative text.
After procrastinating on the issue, the Legault government finally authorized requests to change the gender designation to “X” in March. It is also possible to request this modification from the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec, which is not subject to the same regulations as the RAMQ.