Ambulance NB Taken To Task Over Language

There should be at least one person who's bilingual within each paramedic team at Ambulance NB. So says the Official Languages Commissioner who is calling on the provincial health department to ensure compliance with the law. 

This is Katherine d'Entremont's first recommendation as Commissioner and follows an incident that occurred in September of 2013. Neither of the two paramedics who were sent to help a person in Dieppe who could only speak french.

D'Entremont confirms there was a 2008 investigation requiring at least one person with each paramedic team be bilingual.

She argues attempting to help someone in an emergency situation when you can't understand what's being said is life threatening and goes beyond linguistic rights.