Message from the Protecteur du citoyen
Humanity and responsibility: public services must step up to the plate
"Humanizing public services and adapting them to the people who receive them is a priority expected of government. It is unacceptable for certain sectors to experience interminable delays or to refuse an urgent and legitimate request because the person's profile does not fit perfectly into the small checkbox on a form. Humanization is the issue at stake.
Government will never be relieved of its obligation to remedy the situation when an external resource - working with a public department or agency - fails to deliver the goods or disregards rigorous management standards. Recognizing this responsibility is the key to preserving the original meaning of "public services."
Marc-André Dowd, Ombudsperson
At a glance
Public service
In 2023-2024, the Protecteur du citoyen intervened with 57 departments and agencies to expose problems such as:
- Access to public services;
- Depersonalization of public services (people are reduced to their problem or file number);
- Unreasonable wait times.
5,953 processed grounds
3 main grounds for substantiated complaints:
- Missed deadline or unreasonable wait time
- Infringement of rights
- Failing that has a financial impact
Correctional services
In 2023-2024, the Protecteur du citoyen visited correctional facilities in Montréal, Rivière-des-Prairies, Amos, Hull, Saint-Jérôme and Trois-Rivières. In Québec's detention centres, labour shortages are at the root of major violations of detainee rights. As the Protecteur du citoyen sees it, human resource issues should not be an excuse for declining detention conditions.
4,813 processed grounds
3 main grounds for substantiated complaints:
- Missed deadline or unreasonable wait
- Poor environment or living conditions
- Infringement of rights
Health and social services
When there’s a lack of time and resources and staff turnover is high, the upshot is that health and social service network workers often have no choice but to stick to essential services. Many of the complaints handled in 2023-2024 bring care and service depersonalization into sharp focus.
2,279 processed grounds
Intervention with 119 bodies
3 main grounds for substantiated complaints and reports:
- Deficient service quality
- Infringement of rights
- Incompetence or inappropriate behaviour by staff
Public integrity
Again this year, whistleblowers' disclosures enabled the Protecteur du citoyen to investigate various breaches of public integrity. The main irregularities concerned hiring, managing staff, awarding of contracts, and expenses.
313 grounds processed
- 223 grounds for disclosure
- 4 grounds for reprisal complaints
- 8 grounds for access to legal advice
- 78 grounds for requests for assistance
Documents
In French only :
- Interactive version of the 2023-2024 Annual Report
- 2023-2024 Annual Report in PDF*
- Report on the first wave of COVID-19 in CHSLDs: follow-up report*
- Annual Management Report in PDF*
* These PDF versions are available for people with a permanent or temporary impairment.
