Before Filing a Complaint with the Québec Ombudsman

Concerning a Québec Government Ministry or Agency

First refer to the list of government departments and agencies within the purview of the Québec Ombudsman. If the one that your complaint concerns is on the list, contact us.
Make sure you have all the information and documents needed to process your complaint on hand.

Concerning the Health and Social Services network

The legislation provides that in most situations, complaints must first be submitted to a health or social services establishment or agency. Therefore, you must first contact the local complaints and service quality commissioner of the establishment concerned or the regional complaints and service quality commissioner of your regional health and social services agency. The Complaints Assistance Center (1 877 767-2227) can help you at this stage.
If you do not receive a response from the local or regional commissioner within 45 days, or you are not satisfied with their conclusions, do not hesitate to contact us. Please check first if the authority concerned falls within the Québec Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, and make sure you have at hand all the information and documents needed to process your complaint.

A few tips

Remember…

When you are filing a complaint about the quality of public services, please remember to keep note of:

The names of the people you speak to in the various departments, organizations or government bodies
The time and date of your discussions with them
A summary of what was said and the outcome

Always make a copy of the documents you send to any governmental organization, and only send the originals if they are required.

Call the right resource

Before filing a complaint with the Québec Ombudsman, make sure you have come to the right place. The Québec Ombudsman accepts and handles complaints from individuals or groups concerning the entire public service and the health and social services network.

In other situations, the following organizations can help you if you feel that:

Your rights as a consumer have not been respected: Office de la protection du consommateur
Your employer is not upholding the standards demanded under the Act respecting labour standards: Commission des normes du travail
You are the victim of discrimination, harassment or exploitation in the sense of the Québec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms: Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
A government department or public organization has made an inappropriate decision concerning access to documents and the protection of your personal information: Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec
You cannot exercise your right to vote: Chief Electoral Officer of Québec

The Québec Ombudsman cannot intervene in cases involving Hydro-Québec. You must contact the Hydro-Québec complaints department: 1 888-527-3443.