(Quebec) Administrative rigidity and “distressing loss of meaning”: the Québec Ombudsman turns on a “yellow light” and notes a “dehumanization” of the care and services offered by the Quebec state. “We should always be concerned with understanding people’s needs, putting these needs first before any administrative consideration,” noted Marc-André Dowd in filing his annual report.
He was in danger of losing his “only companion”
In its annual report, tabled in the National Assembly on Thursday, the watchdog presented several examples of cases of dehumanization. In one case, a man “very weakened by illness”, waiting for medical assistance to die, wanted to keep his only “life companion”: a cat.
But his degenerative condition no longer allowed him to maintain the litter box. And the CLSC refused to add litter box cleaning to its “care plan.”
The Protector acknowledges that this request did not fit into the “small box”, but the “distress, the solitude” of the man “called for a different response”.
“Support should have been given to him for humanitarian reasons, beyond the strict interpretation of the programme,” the protector lamented.
After his intervention, the CLSC changed its decision, and the citizen was able to keep his companion.
“The hubbub and indifference” in a CHSLD
The watchdog also witnessed, during an unannounced visit, the serving of a meal delivered in “the hubbub and indifference” in a CHSLD. He observed “cacophony”: “with loud television sound in the background, the workers mechanically helped the residents to eat while talking among themselves.”
Such a lack of communication, attention and consideration towards CHSLD residents is an example of dehumanization of care and services. In these circumstances, the person is not a guest, they are a user who must be fed in the space-time provided.
The public protector, Marc-André Dowd, in his annual report
With training and a reminder, the situation changed. “This improvement did not require any additional budget. It was just a question of reminding staff and changing their attitude,” Dowd continued. The key: “acting with humanity.”
Tied up, facing a wall, for nothing
With the labour shortage and the hiring of many new employees who do not always have the necessary training, some end up doing “the bare minimum”, according to the Protector.
The Ombudsman noted that “in accommodation resources, or in hospitals or youth centres, members of the new staff were abusing control measures, in particular prolonged isolation”, a measure likely to “seriously infringe on fundamental rights”.
Another example: In a hospital, a man in a geriatric unit suffered from a disorder that caused him to hallucinate. For “long periods,” employees would strap him to his chair, with a view of the wall, “without any distraction, not even the television,” and this, “even in the absence of any justification.”
For 15 years, the Protector has been asking the Ministry of Health to regulate gender control measures.
Same underwear for weeks
In detention facilities, inmates “were not given access to spare clothes and underwear” for “several weeks.” “In one case, the person waited two months.”
For the Protector, this raises issues of fundamental rights and hygiene. The lack of humanity was also felt in the absurd case of a man handcuffed “in the palliative care unit”. The prisoner had acute and known health problems, was reduced in mobility and needed the assistance of a beneficiary attendant “for all of his activities”.
“But for six hours after he arrived at the hospital, he was handcuffed to his bed at the ankles and wrists,” Dowd noted in his report.
Delays and service disruptions
The protector deplored the reflex of ministries and organizations to put “administrative issues before their major missions towards citizens.” Result: service disruptions and sometimes unjustified refusals.
- Citizens are unable to reach the administrative housing tribunal by telephone “about matters as crucial as disputes between tenants and landlords.”
- The delays for the Director of Civil Status to deliver official documents such as birth or death certificates are sometimes so long that they can “compromise other procedures for citizens”.
- In some cases, victims have to wait nearly two years before receiving financial assistance from the General Directorate for Compensation for Victims of Crime.
- Not all the problems are solved with SAAQclic: beyond the “tumultuous transition” of last winter, problems persist, such as “driving license suspensions without reason, or amounts mistakenly withdrawn from citizens’ bank accounts. Unfortunately for them, they were not able to reach the SAAQ by phone.”