Ambulance NB and province commit to bilingual service in lawsuit settlement

Ambulance New Brunswick and the province have committed to providing bilingual service as part of a lawsuit settlement with a Moncton brother and sister.

DannySonier had fallen into a diabetic coma in February 2013, but the two paramedics who responded to the Moncton emergency wereunilingualanglophones.

AmbulanceNew Brunswick and the province acknowledge in a Court of Queen's Bench consent order released on Monday that they did not provide bilingual service toSonierand his sister MurielleSonier, in violation of their language rights.

The defendantshave also committed to implementing several changes and reporting annually on their progress.

"We never denied the allegations," their lawyer Christian Michaudsaid.

"Obviously, we're recognizing the obvious, that these obligations stem from the Official Languages Act, and the consent order confirms those obligations but sets it out in a more comprehensive and detailed process."

Ambulance New Brunswick complieswiththe law in the vast majority of cases, Michaudsaid.

• Paramedics union reaches deal with Ambulance NB on bilingualism

Retired University of Moncton law professor Michel Doucet, who represented the Soniers, said they are pleased with the outcome.

"It's important for them to see that finally, what they were asking for has been accepted and it's been recognized as being founded."

Bound by court document

Because the consent order was signed by the judge, Doucet said,Ambulance New Brunswick and the province are legally bound to live up to its terms.

"The court has ordered them to do it so they're bound by the order of the court. If later on we discover they're not respecting the obligations they've taken, we can go back to the court and get other orders to force them to comply."

Doucet would not say whether the Soniers will be paid damages. He said the points in the consent order are the "public interest matters" of the settlement and he was not able to comment on "other matters."

Michaudalso declined to comment on any payment of damages.

"That's a private arrangement that has been arrived at," he said, noting the consent order does not award legal costs.

Under theconsent order signed by JusticeZolDionne on Nov. 20, the defendants must:

• Review policies and procedures to ensure that NewBrunswickersfrom both linguistic communities have access to an ambulance service of equal quality in theirlanguage.
• Determinethe number of bilingual paramedics required andadopt a 'rigorous' hiring plan to fill the needs as soon as possible.
• Specify the language requirements in the jobpostings.
• Educateemployees about their obligations under the Charter of Rights and the Official Languages Act.
• Report annually in its annual report and in a letter to the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languageson progress they're making.

The government has committedto providing Ambulance NB with the necessary budget to meet thebilingualism obligations.

It will also establish, with the agency, standards on the level of French or English that must be achieved by paramedics to be considered bilingual.

These language skills should be evaluated regularly, the consent order states.

Michaud said recruitment of bilingual paramedics has been a challenge and "creative ways" to address itmay beneeded, such assalary incentives for bilingual employees like those offered in the federal civil service.

Training existing paramedics should bepriority

Chris Hood, executive director of the Paramedics Association of New Brunswick, said the organization "fundamentally" supports New Brunswickers' right to be served in the language of their choice, but he said he was "perplexed a little bit" about the implications of the settlement.

He said he questioned the use of the word "rigorous" to describe hiring strategies. "What does that mean? Does that mean they're going to try to lower standards?"

He said it takes 12 to 15 months to train paramedics and that doesn't include language training.

The current model they use for training paramedics in a second language is weak at best.- Chris Hood, paramedics association

He said there are separate training programs in English and in French, but there should be a bilingual program to attract trainees who already speak both languages.

"You should come in with the language issue addressed, you should come in with bilingual capacity. Then you could focus on your pure paramedic education."

Hood said the commitment in the settlement to provide resources to meet the bilingual requirement should mean improved second-language training for existing, unilingual paramedics.

"The current model they use for training paramedics in a second language is weak at best," he said, and many who get the training don't get many opportunities to practise and retain what they learn.

Scheduling changes made a year ago

Ambulance New Brunswick had previouslyacknowledged it didn't meet its legal obligations in the Soniercase.

But the case remainedin court to determine if the Sonierswere entitled to a legal remedy, and if Ambulance New Brunswick's bilingual services plan metthe requirements of the Official Languages Act.

That plan included a new scheduling system, implemented in late 2015, which would ensure at least one member of a two-person crew was bilingual.

The system saw bilingual part-time and casual employees called in to work open shifts first, followed by bilingual full-timers on overtime, ahead of unilingual part-timers and casuals.