Revising the Canada Health Act

Recommendation 1

That the federal government review the Canada Health Act to ensure that federal health investments adhere to the principles of the Official Languages Act and formally support health care services for official language minority communities.

Defining language clauses

Recommendation 2

That the President of the Treasury Board include in the regulations governing the implementation of Part VII of the Official Languages Act a clear definition of language clauses. These must include obligations with respect to:

• consultations with communities;
• data collection on these communities;
• identification of the results to be achieved;
• implementation oversight;
• transparency; and
• accountability.

Recommendation 3

That the President of the Treasury Board work with the Minister of Health to include these language clauses in all bilateral health agreements during the next round of negotiations with the provinces and territories.

Enhancing direct funding for community organizations

Recommendation 4

That the Minister responsible for Official Languages enhance support for community organizations in the next government-wide official languages strategy, with stable, multi-year funding mechanisms that will encourage collaboration between organizations and with all health partners.

Enhancing direct funding for post-secondary institutions

Recommendation 5

That the Minister responsible for Official Languages increase support for minority post-secondary institutions in the next government-wide official languages strategy, with measures developed in consultation with the institutions and in collaboration with the provinces and territories, professional bodies and accrediting bodies. These measures will target:

• the long-term sustainability of existing programs;
• the development of new health education programs in areas that are in demand;
• the development of a pan-Canadian language training strategy for professionals from here and abroad;
• the reduction of language barriers in entry-to-practice; and
• the reduction of language barriers in the transition into the workforce.

Attracting bilingual workers

Recommendation 6

That the Minister of Jobs and Families work with the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship and the Minister responsible for Official Languages to ensure that foreign credential recognition efforts take into account the needs of official language minority communities with regard to bilingual health care workers. That, in the next government-wide official languages strategy, the federal government develop a fast-track immigration gateway for francophone and bilingual health care workers.

Supporting the continuum of health care
and services in the minority language

Recommendation 7

That all federal institutions apply a language lens tailored to the needs of official language minority communities in all their diversity, including those from vulnerable communities, when developing health programs, policies and initiatives.

Recommendation 8

That the Minister of Health support the implementation of the “Access to Health and Social Services in Official Languages” standard with all health partners across the continuum of health care and services.

Accelerating language data collection 
and the sharing of disaggregated data

Recommendation 9

That Health Canada, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information work with all health partners to integrate language variables into:

• databases on population health;
• the provision of or demand for health services; and
• the health workforce.

That this data be widely shared, particularly to inform the positive measures taken by decision-makers within federal institutions to ensure the health of official language minority communities and to support the decision making of other health partners.

Supporting intersectional research and analyses

Recommendation 10

That the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, with support from Canadian Heritage and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and in consultation with official language minority communities:

• develop and systematically apply a language lens to health research;
• encourage researchers involved in health care research funded by the federal government to measure the linguistic impact of their research; and
• support existing research chairs dedicated to health in official language minority communities and consider creating new research chairs to address the needs of vulnerable communities.

That federal institutions provide targeted support for research into the health of these communities in all their diversity and that they identify the measures to be taken to meet their differentiated health needs.

Supporting language concordance measures
in collaboration with all partners

Recommendation 11

That the federal government ensure that all health care partners apply language concordance best practices, such as linguistic identification of patients, identification of bilingual resources and services, language training for health care professionals and professional interpretation, while providing the human, financial and material resources necessary to ensure their integration into the Canadian health care system as a whole.

Striving for a standardized active offer practice

Recommendation 12

That the federal government ensure that all health care partners apply active offer best practices, while providing the human, financial and material resources necessary to ensure their integration into the Canadian health care system as a whole.

Ensuring that official languages are reflected in new practices

Recommendation 13

That the federal government work with provincial and territorial governments to develop a pan-Canadian strategy to provide telemedicine services, digital services and virtual care in official language minority communities, and that it take into account the needs of these communities in the deployment of artificial intelligence tools for health care.

Recommendation 14

That the federal government ensure that provincial and territorial governments apply the standards applicable to private companies acting on behalf of public health institutions for

• the active offer of services of equal quality in both official languages; and
• consultation with official language minority communities.