(December 11, 2024) Fredericton—The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick is dismayed about the results of a recent investigation into complaints against the Department of Health, specifically the MyHealthNB platform. The complaints which sparked the investigation indicated that the complainants were able to navigate the MyHealthNB platform in English, their language of choice, but were then unable to access certain medical test results in their preferred language, because they were only available in French.
While New Brunswick has two health networks, each with its own internal language of work, both networks are obligated by law to provide their services to the public in both official languages. The complainants were informed by the Department of Health that the test results were provided in the language of work of the hospital and were therefore not available in their official language of choice.
“In my view, MyHealthNB offers services that are intended for the public. It’s clear to me that all documents available on the platform are meant to be accessible by patients and are not solely internal documents that are created in the language of work of healthcare establishments,” says Shirley MacLean, Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick. “The MyHealthNB platform is a useful tool in the sharing of private health information with members of the public and it is possible to navigate the platform in either official language, but there is an egregious disconnect between the information that is provided by the Department of Health’s platform and its linguistic obligations under the Official Languages Act.”
The investigation revealed that the Department of Health is aware of its linguistic obligations. However, it appears to have attempted to mitigate the risk of complaints by using a disclaimer that indicates that some information on the platform is displayed only in the language of its originator.
“The use of a disclaimer clearly indicates a willingness by the Department of Health to sidestep its statutory linguistic obligations. In fact, it demonstrates a conscious effort to disregard these obligations,” says Shirley MacLean. “I am both dismayed and fervently opposed to this use of disclaimers or warnings. An institution cannot opt out of its legal obligations under the Official Languages Act by using disclaimers, and this creates a very dangerous precedent.”
Investigation report: https://bit.ly/Investigation-Report-24-25-017