NDP celebrates health cards reflecting Francophone names

KAPUSKASING AND SUDBURY — NDP Francophone Affairs critic Guy Bourgoin (Mushkegowuk-James Bay) and Health Care critic France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) issued the following statement to celebrate Ontario’s health cards finally carrying accents:

“The Francophone community has demanded for years to have our names spelled properly on our legal documents, including our health cards. Today, we are celebrating a victory. The credit for this achievement goes to every Francophone person in this great province who signed our petitions or wrote letters for our rights.

Our work is not done. We, the Franco-Ontarians, deserve to have a modernized French Language Services Act, an independent and standalone French Language Services Commissioner, and all Franco-Ontarians deserve to be able to count on our services being available in French. We have the right to receive health care and understand our diagnosis in our mother tongue. We have the right to take a driver’s test, speak in a court of law and live our golden years in a long-term care home all in our own language. Progress in achieving all this has been stripped back by the Conservative government — but the NDP will never give up on Franco-Ontarians, our language and our culture.