S.O.S. Montfort
In the spring of 1996, the Government of Ontario set up the Health Services Restructuring Commission with a mandate to evaluate hospital operations throughout the province. The Commission released a preliminary report in February 1997.
French facing a difficult situation in Ontario hospitals. Some members of the Bill Davis Conservative government seek to block the adoption of a bilingualism project in Ottawa-area hospitals by the Ottawa-Carleton Regional District Health Council.
Two Rochons in health care: Jean Rochon, doctor, member of the National Assembly and minister in the Quebec Government (PQ), and Mark Rochon, CEO of Ontario’s Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC).
In that report, the Commission refuses to recognize the distinct and unique character of the Montfort, which it sees as a bilingual hospital. It recommends that the hospital stop offering a full range of services, and integrate with the region’s other hospitals. Such a restructuring would inevitably have led to the closure of the Montfort as it existed, and the loss of numerous French-language health care services offered to the community.
March 22, 1997, a huge gathering of more than 10,000 Franco-Ontarians at Ottawa’s Civic Centre.
Claude Ryan, former Director of Le Devoir and leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1982, signed the petition to save the Montfort – affirming that he was being guided by the hand of God.
On the heels of that announcement, a huge protest movement emerged in French Ontario, as well as in other parts of the country, denouncing the loss of that Franco-Ontarian institution: S.O.S. Montfort. Former Vanier Mayor Gisèle Lalonde headed the movement. The Le Droit daily also encouraged people to sign a petition, which produced 125,000 signatures.
Gisèle Lalonde affirms at a press conference: “Je ne suis pas pour la violence, mais on a atteint la limite de notre patience.” (I am not in favour of violence, but they’ve exhausted our patience).
Several obstacles appear along the legal path preventing the closure of the Montfort.
The S.O.S. Montfort movement peaked on March 22, 1997, when a massive rally organized at Ottawa’s Civic Centre drew 10,000 demonstrators from every corner of the province. Singers, artists and political figures took turns expressing their support for the Montfort, and unanimously condemning the Mike Harris Conservative government for refusing to intervene to save the hospital.
Defenders of the Montfort announce that they will be turning to the courts as a result of the Commission’s refusal to revise its conclusions.
Ontario Permier Mike Harris, holding the strings of the Health Services Restructuring Commission.
In response to this massive demonstration, the Commission decided to review its recommendations concerning the Montfort. The new recommendations were deemed equally unacceptable, so the S.O.S. Montfort turned to the courts.
Ontario’s Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) announces that it will appeal the ruling of the Divisional Court. According to the Harris Government, it is incorrect to conclude that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the cultural and language rights of the Franco-Ontarian minority.
Government lawyers argue before the Ontario Court of Appeal that nothing in Canada’s Constitution gives Franco-Ontarians the right to a French-language hospital.
In its decision of November 29, 1999, the Ontario Court of Justice highlighted the unique and distinct character of the Montfort for the Franco-Ontarian minority, and blocked its closure by the provincial government. Basing itself of the French Language Services Act, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the decision two years later, thereby securing the hospital’s survival.
The Harris Government announces that it respects the decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and will not turn to the Superior Court.
John Baird, President of the Treasury Board in the Conservative Government of Stephen Harper, abolishes the Court Challenges Program that financed the fight against the Montfort’s closure.
In December 2020, Mike Harris receives the Order of Ontario. The reference is to the Montfort saga and the Walkerton tragedy, where several people died as a result of the contaminated water supply.