Good morning. My name is Anne Leis. I am a professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan and president of the Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan.
When I feel sick or vulnerable, I am sick in my language: French. Receiving health services and care in French is a matter of safety and quality. "Patients who experience a state of chronic or episodic vulnerability are at greater risk of suffering very serious negative impact on their health directly related to their inability to communicate their needs in a second language." That is what Danielle de Moissac states in a research report published in 2016. I know I'm telling you nothing new; you are aware of this. I am nevertheless trying to provide you with a bit of context.
The research has also conclusively and systematically established the negative impacts of linguistic barriers. I know you are absolutely aware of all this. Consider the following examples: "low participation in health promotion and prevention activities; delayed presentation for care; barriers to initial access for most health services; increased risks of misdiagnosis; poorer patient understanding of and adherence to prescribed treatment; lower patient satisfaction; increased risk of experiencing adverse events; poorer management of chronic disease; and less effective pain management." These are the impacts cited by Sarah Bowen in a 2015 report entitled "Impact of Language Barriers on Patient Safety and Quality of Care," a compilation of research conducted in recent years.
Allow me to introduce the Réseau santé en français de la Saskatchewan.
We established our network in 2006 and are one of 16 provincial and territorial member networks of the Société santé en français. We receive funding from Health Canada through the Société santé en français under the Action Plan for Official Languages 2018-2023: Investing in Our Future. That funding is intended for our network activities with our five partner health groups: health services managers, health professionals, training institutions, political decision-makers and the community. We are formed in accordance with the five partners determined by the World Health Organization.
The Réseau's mission is to ensure better access to health and social services and programs in French in Saskatchewan. It's quite a challenge.
In Saskatchewan, the Réseau strives to improve access to French language health services, in particular for families and their children, newcomers and seniors, this last group representing approximately 55% of Saskatchewan's francophone population.
In the next few years, our main objective will be to work with our partners to implement and more effectively structure French-language health services in a completely anglophone community. We especially strive to work in the cities of Saskatoon and Regina, but also to improve access to health services in rural areas and to provide resources to students and health professionals so they are better equipped to serve francophone patients. Believe me, there are francophones out there, but you have to go looking for them.
Now I will talk about the health reform in Saskatchewan.
As you are no doubt aware, a major health reform is under way in Saskatchewan, and it is establishing new possibilities and better positioning the Réseau as a preferred health partner for Saskatchewan's francophone population.
A thorough reform was conducted in December 2017, and a single provincial health authority was created, replacing the 12 existing regional boards. This new health authority is engaged in a major process to transform the system. Allow me to cite a passage in English:
We are driven by the commitment to improve frontline patient care for Saskatchewan people [and I'll add that Saskatchewan people include francophones], and we are working together to better coordinate health services across the province to ensure patients receive high quality, timely health care, wherever they live in Saskatchewan.
This was a direct quote.
The Réseau has met on two occasions with senior officials of the health authority, who have expressed interest in cooperating. We want to formalize this cooperation by officially becoming a French-language health care advisory committee, as already exists in Manitoba, Nova Scotia and other provinces.
The Ministry of Health has expressed growing interest in working with the Réseau by adapting resources to support students and professionals. You may be familiar with some services such as Tel-Aide Outaouais. We are trying to determine whether we can have access to it here in Saskatchewan because it is a French-language helpline that could reach all francophones across the province, including seniors who live in isolated situations. The problem is that a little money and leverage are required to obtain those services. There is some receptiveness on this point, but the provincial government needs to be prodded or assisted.
That brings me to my last part, which is how you can help us. I see three possible sectors where you could support us.
First, there is the matter of bilingual human resources. It is impossible to obtain French-language health services without health professionals who speak French. These are essential to ensuring the effective delivery of high-quality and safe health services to the official language communities. We must establish a systematic registry of bilingual health professionals, a system that is more than word of mouth. It is not enough for someone to tell us there is a francophone physician in a particular place or a nurse who speaks French at some other place because we are never sure we can come across these health professionals who speak French. That's why it's important to keep a systematic registry of health professionals who speak French.
What can the federal government do in this regard?
We know that the professional associations gather or try to gather information on the languages spoken by their members, but that's done on a voluntary basis. Members may choose to indicate on their association registration forms whether they speak English, French, Arabic or other languages, but they are not required to do so.
There are also national surveys, and that's what interests me. The federal government conducts major surveys of health professionals, and they should ensure that they systematically record the language or languages spoken by those professionals. The surveys should also determine their training needs. Some surveys already do that, but not all. We aren't very familiar with their needs across the country. It might be useful to ask questions about that.
I would like to raise another point. By making targeted health investments, the federal government could also encourage the systematic recording of patients' language preferences on their health cards. This is already the case in Prince Edward Island. What incentives could the federal government put in place, in federal-provincial agreements or in another way, for that to become the universal standard and for patients' language preferences to be stated on their health cards? I put that question to you.