Sonia Bélanger orders a new investigation at the CHSLD in La Prairie

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Minister Bélanger recalled that “mistreatment is zero tolerance” and that “employees have an obligation to report.”

Caroline Plante – The Canadian Press in Quebec City

Published on October 2

• Québec

The Minister responsible for Seniors, Sonia Bélanger, announced Wednesday that she has ordered a new investigation into the La Prairie CHSLD in connection with acts of mistreatment.

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“The CISSS de la Montérégie-Ouest conducted an internal investigation. Since I am not satisfied with […] what I saw as conclusions, […] I asked the ministerial teams to investigate,” she said in a press scrum.

The Journal de Montréal reported Monday that an attendant at the La Prairie CHSLD allegedly punched an 86-year-old woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s a few weeks before her death.

Employees reportedly saw the same attendant hit another resident in the head and forcibly straighten the arm of a third senior who was stiff.

Quoting the Journal article on Wednesday, Liberal MP Linda Caron pointed out that the man in question had been suspended for three weeks with pay and then relocated, while a whistleblower had been suspended for two weeks without pay.

“It's unacceptable, it's even scandalous. What are you going to do about it? ?” she asked the minister.

Ms. Bélanger responded that, in her opinion, the situation is “unacceptable,” “unjustifiable.”

“I have requested an investigation by our inspection team from the Ministry of Health and Social Services and I will follow the file very closely,” she promised.

In a press scrum, Minister Bélanger reiterated that “mistreatment is zero tolerance” and that “employees have an obligation to disclose.”

“When employees disclose, well, managers have to take charge of the situation,” she stressed. Will she demand changes within the CISSS? ? “I will take it step by step,” she said.

The report from the inspection team of the Ministry of Health and Social Services is expected “in the coming days.”