"Language issue puts veteran in front of new battle: Lost funding to see anglophone doctors"

3 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2008-12-22 08:53

toddsschneider

During the Korean War, Arthur Moore fought for Canada, dodging
landmines and napalm attacks as he carried vital dispatches throughout
the Korean countryside.

For the past two years, though, the
elderly anglophone veteran has been embroiled in a very different
battle - to get the Canadian government he risked his life for to pay
the travel costs for him to be treated at one of Montreal's English
hospitals.

"You've got to fight for your rights," said Moore, holding back emotion.

Moore's
battle, which has taken him through two levels of Federal Court,
centres on one simple question: Should the government pay for
English-speaking veterans to be treated at the nearest hospital that
says it can offer service in English? ...

Mon, 2008-12-22 11:29

From the linked article:

Quote:
Christine Varin, spokesperson for the hospital, said staff can generally "get by" in English. If they can't, they call in a translator, as they would if a patient only spoke another language she said.

Seems a reasonable enough response, unless you are one of those who believes the English community in Quebec is entitled to more rights than the Portuguese-speaking community (to pick one example).

I think a case can be made for those extra rights in a "two founding nations" model, but only if the same rights are extended to French-speaking minorities in all parts of Canada. Which, as we all know, they are not.

Mon, 2008-12-22 11:58

lagatta

This is a slightly different case from most of the language kerfuffles, as it stems from the Federal Governments duty to a veteran to provide proper care (in either official language as per Federal Law) for physical and psychic injuries incurred due to military service.

Indeed we know French-speakers are often denied the same rights, but I don't think that is a reason for denying them to this gentleman.

Nor is the fact that living in a predominantly francophone area and being married to a francophone, he never properly learnt the language. I'd say for shame, Mr Moore - but there is a reason people in need of health care have more entitlement (if possible) to receive it in their native language, as it is a time of stress and psychological regression (need for cultural comfort).

It is very different from the issue of schooling. I have NO pity for the people who tried to buy their way around Law 101 schooling provisings via 100%-private-funded schooling in English. That is really a matter of one law for the rich, another for the rest of us.