Today I want to tell you a story about a woman named Allison Ducluzeau who was told by the government that there was nothing that could be done for her cancer.
Allison is a 58-year old woman who lives in Victoria, BC. She started experiencing abdominal pain in October 2022, so her family doctor put her on the waitlist for a CT scan. By November, the pain was so excruciating that she went to an emergency room where tests confirmed the worst: abdominal cancer.
Allison was told her that she was too ill for surgery and had a life expectancy of two months to two years. Allison could choose palliative chemotherapy but there was no guarantee she’d be seen by an oncologist in time to get it.
Allison invited her children, then 21 and 26, to her home to tell them she was going to die.
“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Allison said.
Family and friends rallied to support Allison and contacted four U.S. clinics, which all said she was a candidate for surgery. Allison selected a surgeon in Baltimore who met with her in January 2023 and operated less than two weeks later.
Nearly a year-and-a-half later, Allison is cancer-free and feeling great—except for the serious side-effect of a $200,000 medical bill that Allison is now stuck with and B.C. is unwilling to help with despite their incorrect prognosis.
These stories have become nearly everyday occurrences in Canada nowadays. And governments seem to be incapable of making it better.
This is why the Canadian Constitution Foundation supported Dr. Brian Day and the Cambie Surgery Centre in their case fighting for patients in B.C. This case challenged restrictions in BC’s Medicare Protection Act that prevented Canadians from getting better access to care.
In British Columbia, as in most Canadian provinces, access to medical treatment is rationed by the government using wait lists to limit the overall cost of health care spending. At the same time, the province imposes restrictions on access to health care outside the public monopoly.
If we had won that case it would not have led to the “Americanization” of Canadian health care. In every other developed Western democracy outside Canada and the United States, public and private health care co-exist within a system of universal coverage. They also do better than Canada in most measures of health care quality and efficiency.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case without giving reasons why, and left important legal questions about Canadian rights unanswered.
But we are not giving up.
Provincial laws in Canada that violate the right to security of person are still open to a challenge if they prevent Canadians from seeking out health care. It’s unconstitutional, unjust and inhumane to deny Canadians this basic right if the public monopoly forces them to suffer on waiting lists. Just ask Allison, who owes her life to a second opinion.
We know that if we get a chance at the Supreme Court of Canada, WE WILL win.
But before we take on a new case, we need to fight against a government attempt to shake us down even though we were engaging in genuine public interest litigation.
The BC government is demanding that the CCF and its partners pay $1.7 million dollars to cover some of the legal bills they racked up fighting against Canadians’ rights. To put that amount into perspective, the Canadian Constitution Foundation spent less than $2.1 million on all of our work (including ALL of our cases, special projects and events) in the last fiscal year.
Help us fight back against this costs claim so we can get back to fighting for your rights.
theccf.ca/yourhealthcantwait/donate/
Any extra donations we receive will go towards a future health care freedom case. We know it’s only a matter of time before patient rights win in court.
Please help us stand up for public interest litigation and patient rights.
