Authors

Executive Summary

Sarahi Nava Marquina, Policy Researcher, Provincial Employment Roundtable

Québec’s healthcare system is facing critical challenges that stand to impact the well-being of Quebecers for years to come. Healthcare professionals often work with antiquated infrastructure, must manage a growing demand for services, and are in increasingly short supply, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of this, the adoption of Law 14 in 2022 (formerly Bill 96) tightened language requirements for hiring as well as professional practice in some healthcare roles (among others), introducing additional barriers for English-speaking students and workers in healthcare. Given that English speakers were already underrepresented in the healthcare industry as of 2021, this legislation may further weaken their participation, ultimately affecting the availability of English language healthcare services and the inclusion of key professionals to enhance the healthcare system as a whole, irrespective of language

Our research suggests that this issue simultaneously represents a valuable opportunity: targeted efforts to recruit, support, and retain English speakers could strengthen the inclusivity and improve the capacity of the provincial healthcare system. In this report, we present data to support this argument, drawing on statistics from the Census of Canada as well as the results of a program inventory identifying healthcare-specific French language training.

Key Findings

Data on interprovincial migration reveal Québec’s inability to retain English-speaking healthcare workers living in the province, as opposed to French-speakers.

• English speakers made up about two-thirds (65.6%) of all healthcare and social assistance workers who moved from Québec to other provinces in Canada, representing a significant loss for such a small portion of the healthcare labour force.
• The data pertains to 2021 and, therefore, does not incorporate the potential impacts of Law 14 on this out-migration trend.
• English speakers’ net migration —the number of individuals who moved to Québec minus those who moved to other provinces— has remained relatively stable in 2016 and 2021 (approximately at -300 for both years).
• On the contrary, during the same period, French speakers’ net migration switched from negative to positive (-215 in 2016 compared to 198 in 2021), meaning more French speakers moved to Québec than left.

English speakers are underrepresented in the healthcare and social assistance industry.

• English speakers comprise 11.4% of the industry’s labour force, but 15.8% of Québec’s total labour force.
• The unemployment rate for English-speaking health and social assistance workers was twice as high as that of French speakers (4.7% compared to 2.3%).

There are very few healthcare-specific French language learning resources available in the province.

• Our inventory identified at least 28 unique healthcare-specific French language learning courses or trainings, but only 15 did not require participants to already be enrolled as a student at an educational institution. Most were concentrated in Montréal.

English speakers are more heavily engaged in professions that require a university, as opposed to CEGEP or vocational, degree.

• Examples include specialist physicians and dentists.

Gender affects engagement with the healthcare industry as a whole, as well as specific professions.

• The vast majority of healthcare and social assistance workers (80.1%) are women. Among English speakers, women participate in the healthcare industry at approximately three times the rate of men (women make up 8.7% of the industry compared to men’s 2.7%).
• English-speaking men tend to work as specialist physicians or dentists, while English-speaking women tend to hold roles such as dental assistants, dietitians, nutritionists, and home support workers. The same trend exists among French speakers.