Victim of chronic seizures resulting from chemical burns due to a defective airbag more than 25 years ago, Nancy Leblond says she was abandoned by the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), which had pledged to help her before accessing in power.
“I was treated with no respect, I was used and thrown away after use,” says Nancy Leblond.
The woman, who lives near Quebec, lives with attacks of constant acute pain that send her to receive morphine injections in the emergency room. She follows treatments for which she has to swallow 30 tablets a day, that is to say more than 10,000 tablets a year.
“Despite everything, the pain continues,” she said. I get electric shocks to my brain and face all the time, 24/7. On the pain scale, I’m at 7 and 8 every day. »
His only lifeline: going to live in a warm climate. His neurologist recommends that he spend six months in such a climate since the cold on his face exacerbates the problem and causes pain that is practically impossible to bear. She hardly ever leaves her apartment in the winter, because the cold is so painful for her face that it causes seizures.
I need to have an emergency fund to get me to a place where I can stabilize my quality of life and for my health, and that includes my spouse who is my caregiver.
Nancy Leblond
In 2017, Benoit Charette, current Minister of the Environment and MP for Deux-Montagnes with the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), contacted her at home. “He told me that in the upcoming elections, if his political party returned to power with a majority, he would do everything to help me,” she recalls. However, since the CAQ took power, nothing has been done to improve its situation, says Mr.me The blond.
On May 30, 2019, at the invitation of Sylvain Lévesque, MNA for Chauveau with the Coalition avenir Québec, Mr.me Leblond and her spouse traveled to the National Assembly to file petitions to change the no-fault plan (no fault in English) in Quebec. Since then, the two politicians have cut off communications with Mme The blond.
Contacted by The Press, Minister Benoit Charette’s office did not respond to our interview requests. The office of MP Sylvain Lévesque refused our request for an interview, and instead invited us to contact the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).
Defective airbag
It was during a low-speed collision as a passenger in a GM car in Montreal in 1995 that Ms.me Leblond suffered significant chemical burns to his face. The airbag failed to deploy, projecting -200 degree gases into his face, causing permanent damage.
Elsewhere in North America, Nancy Leblond could have brought a civil suit against GM. But not in Quebec, where the no-fault regime prohibits this approach.
Since then, Transports Quebec directs it to the SAAQ, which then directs it to Transports Quebec, and so on.
“I typed two petitions, with two political parties, plus a passage to the National Assembly… I can explain to them, sit down, give them papers, there is nothing to do, it does not pass not. At some point, I am a human being, ”says Mme The blond.
Gino Desrosiers, spokesperson for the SAAQ, notes that the Company introduced in 2022 the payment of a minimum income replacement indemnity, based on the average weekly income of workers in Quebec, for customers with injuries or sequelae of catastrophic nature.
“Being in its first year of implementation, the Company will later assess whether a revision of this regulation is required,” he said. Mme Leblond receives everything to which she is entitled according to the insurance coverage provided for by law. In particular, she receives income replacement indemnities, she received indemnities for consequences and other forms of compensation. »
Mme Leblond says she and her caregiver spouse each receive $1,820 a month, which allows them to meet their basic needs, but not to spend the winter months in a warm climate.
“My seizures are less severe when I spend the winter months in a warm, dry place, but I can’t afford it financially,” says Ms.me The blond.
“A disappointed hope”
Lawyer Marc Bellemare, who has supported her in this case for years, notes that “the CAQ unfortunately did not respect its commitments” to Nancy Leblond.
“Nancy Leblond was seriously injured, she was disfigured with major facial burns. She can’t go out in the winter, she just goes out in the summer. It’s a life of misery. »
She would like to sue GM, the automaker responsible for her accident, but cannot do so because her accident occurred in Quebec, he said.
“The CAQ had promised him to touch on this, to pay him compensation and to improve his lot and to allow him to sue the manufacturer, but that was never done. »
1er July 2022, Law 22 has been amended. Certain allowances have been increased, but this has no effect on M’s condition.me Leblond, rating Me Bellemare. “It’s a disappointed hope. »
The only way for her to get better terms is through legislative change, the lawyer says.
“Since the 1er March 1978, it’s the same thing: there is no recourse possible against automobile manufacturers in Quebec, whereas it is possible to do so elsewhere. So I can’t move. It is pathetic. »