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Inclusive and respectful service
A specialized approach for the First Nations and Inuit
The Protecteur du citoyen has undertaken a cultural safety initiative with First Nations and Inuit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Make a complaint
As soon as we receive your complaint, we acknowledge receipt by phone or in writing (email, letter or fax) within two working days.
If your complaint is admissible (in other words, if we can intervene), we begin an investigation involving all the parties concerned. Whether or not your complaint is substantiated, we inform you of our conclusions, verbally or in writing.
The Protecteur du citoyen cannot act concerning complaints against health professionals (physicians, medical residents, pharmacists, dentists).
If the health professional you want to complain about works for an institution (CISSS or CIUSSS):
- Go to the service quality and complaints commissioner. The complaint assistance and support centre (CAAP) in your region can help you.
- The commissioner forwards your complaint to the institution’s medical examiner.
- If you disagree with the medical examiner’s conclusions, you can complain to the institution’s review committee.
If the acts you questioned occurred in private practice, you have to go one of the following professional orders:
Denounce a reprehensible act
As soon as we receive your disclosure, we acknowledge receipt by contacting you by phone immediately if possible or no later than within the next 2 working days. A written notice will be sent to you within 5 working days. Obviously, this does not apply if you chose to remain anonymous.
Next, if your disclosure is admissible (that is, if we can intervene), we conduct an audit during pre-investigation. Once this is done, we decide whether to have a formal investigation.
At each phase (pre-investigation and investigation), we keep you in the loop. When the investigation has been completed and our conclusions have been delivered, we make recommendations to the public body concerned as needed.
The Protecteur du citoyen sends you a notice when it has finished handling your disclosure.
For more information, see the Service Statement and the Handling disclosures sections.
When the investigation is completed, we report our conclusions to the highest-ranking administrative official within the public body concerned. If the circumstances warrant it, we notify the minister responsible for the public body. Where applicable, we make recommendations.
If we feel that the follow-up to our recommendations is unsatisfactory, we notify the minister responsible for the public body concerned. We may also report the situation in our annual report or in a special report tabled in the National Assembly.