A language battle is brewing at one of Winnipeg's leading medical institutions.
Since October 14th, nursing jobs posted for the Woman and Child program at St. Boniface General Hospital list the ability to speak French as one of the qualifications.
That has some nurses worried the ability to speak French is taking priority over skill and experience, possibly putting patient care at risk.
"They've started hiring people into positions and taking French language qualifications over top of nursing experience," said nurse Tamara Burnham, a 14-year nursing veteran who works in the St. Boniface program that includes obstetrics and gynecology.
"With all the things going on in health care, to focus in on that doesn't make sense."
Manitoba Nurses Union Local 5 says it's gone to court to fight the French language requirement because it violates their collective agreement and common sense.
The nurses union went to court October 23rd after the Labour Board refused to hear the matter.
Their suit said the Labour Board erred when it refused to hear their complaint that the hospital committed an unfair labour practice by changing the conditions of employment and refusing to negotiate.
The hospital has a hard time filling all of its nursing shifts, never mind requiring that they're filled by French-speaking staff, said Burnham.
Burnham said she has never seen a francophone patient's treatment hampered because of a language barrier.
Most Franco-Manitobans can also speak English, she said.
"A very real problem, however, exists with the growing number of immigrants who speak neither official language," she said.
"If the hospital wanted to address a real language barrier, it would hire interpreters who speak languages like Urdu, Hindi and Mandarin," she said.
The hospital has volunteer interpreters who speak 60 languages but they're not always available when you need them, she said.
Burnham said she has seen women in labour unable to get pain medication because of a language barrier.
"You can't get informed consent because you don't know if they understand," said Burnham. "If it's a delivery, you can't stop a baby from coming," she said.
"Too bad they couldn't spend this much time and energy to have interpreters on call."
Union local president Debbie Mintz said the hospital hasn't done a demographic study of the patient population since the early 1990s, and doesn't know how the client population in Winnipeg has changed.
The hospital says it has to expand services in French.
"St. Boniface General Hospital has a government-conferred responsibility to actively offer and provide services in French to its patients, their families and the public," hospital spokeswoman Helene Vrignon wrote in a statement.
"To meet our legislated responsibility, a small number of staff in direct patient care positions must be bilingual French and English.
In fact, health services in the language of your choice is a basic component of quality of care."
