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Imagine if an English-speaking Quebecer called 911 to report an emergency and the operator could only speak French?

It would be terrifying to deal with a language barrier during a moment of panic, be it calling an ambulance for a family member having a heart attack or summoning help after a car crash. It would quickly be held up as the latest example of how the rights of Quebec’s English community have been eroded and our access to services diminished in a worsening political climate.

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Luckily this did not happen — at least nothing that has been publicly reported. But the reverse scenario has recently come to light in the French media. And Quebec anglophones should be no less alarmed.

La Presse has reported in recent days on multiple cases of francophones who called 911 where the person answering their call was unable to communicate in French. In case you missed it, here’s a recap:

Last week, a man in Montreal North woke up in the middle of the night and saw a car burning on his street. When he used his IP telephone — which uses the Internet instead of a traditional landline — to call for help, the person who answered only spoke English. He thought the operator was looking for a French-speaking colleague. But after being on hold for 10 minutes, he finally hung up. The fire department had arrived, anyhow, probably alerted by another neighbour.

An eerily similar case was first reported by Le Devoir last spring. A French-speaking man using IP provider Oxio called 911 when his wife passed out. The person who responded couldn’t speak French. As the English-speaking operator dithered, the man eventually gave up and called his local CLSC, which sent an ambulance.

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Although there are technical reasons for this snafu, they are hardly reassuring.

First, IP users need to configure their preferences to French, since the default is English.

Second, companies that offer internet-based phone service use an intermediary to triage emergency calls. In this case, Quebec provider Transat Telecom has a contract with Northern 911 in Sudbury, Ont., to redirect such matters to the local dispatchers. So it was an employee of the subcontractor who spoke in English only, even though it is supposed to provide service in both of Canada’s official languages.

But, as La Presse reported, the same trouble can arise when using a cellphone in remote areas.

A woman driving through the Réserve faunique des Laurentides in late December called 911 to report several cars stuck in the ditch as weather conditions worsened. The English-speaking operator struggled to understand her account given in French and offered the use of a translation service.

The Quebecer ended up switching to English instead — because she could. Even then, she said the person on the other end of the line seemed unfamiliar with place names, asking her to spell out Chicoutimi. She was eventually put in touch with emergency dispatchers in Saguenay. But in the aftermath, she was troubled by the experience. Rightly so.

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It turns out that, just like internet-based phone carriers, cell providers also rely on intermediaries to redirect emergency calls in remote locations. In this case, Rogers has a contract with Northern 911.

Rogers told La Presse its services are offered in French and English. Northern 911 insisted it fulfilled its duty by offering French translation, which the caller refused.

This just doesn’t cut it in Canada — whether for French-speaking Quebecers unexpectedly ringing a call centre in another province or a francophone elsewhere in the country trying to deal with an emergency in their own language.

These are the kinds of double standards that grate on French-speaking Quebecers — and perhaps cause them to tune out anglophone concerns over accessing public services in English. These are the indignities francophone communities elsewhere in the country deal with regularly. These are the kinds of incidents that expose the gaps in official bilingualism. These are life and death matters, which could have grave consequences in the case of a delay or misunderstanding.

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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has grounds to investigate and ensure all obligations are being respected when 911 calls come in from Quebec. Lawmakers should review whether regulations are up to speed with technological realities.

And anglophone Quebecers should denounce this conundrum as unacceptable and demand prompt remedies.

After all, protecting access to fundamental services in one’s mother tongue and defending language rights is not a zero-sum game.

We can easily put ourselves in the shoes of the French-speaking Quebecers in these harrowing circumstances. We are well aware that being forced to use your second language when seeking health care or while facing a medical emergency can be taxing. We should not get so caught up in our own grievances that we fail to see what we have in common.

Standing up for francophones who are being denied services doesn’t excuse any recent infringement on our own rights, be it young adults who went to French school being refused eligibility certificates or an elderly caller being hung up on by the Régie de l’assurance maladie Québec trying to sort out a drug coverage issue in English.

Rather, it should remind all Quebecers that we’re stronger when we look out for each other.

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