Declaration of Services to the Public

Consideration

We are committed to:

receive you with courtesy, respect and discretion;
serve you with diligence, empathy and frankness;
offer you support that responds to your needs;
identify ourselves clearly when we communicate with you;
refer you to the appropriate body if your request does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Québec Ombudsman.

Rigour

We are committed to:

A thorough, objective and impartial investigation of your complaint by qualified staff whose expertise is continually updated;
Giving you information that is complete and reliable.

Confidentiality

We are committed to:

protecting your privacy and full confidentiality;
only collecting information that is necessary for the investigation of your complaint or report;
using information only for the purpose for which it is being gathered, and providing access to it only to people who are so authorized for the performance of their duties;
ensuring that our staff are aware of and abide by the regulations concerning privacy protection and security of information.

Clarity and simplicity

We are committed to:

using simple, clear language in our verbal and written communications, as well as on our forms;
reducing administrative formalities;
simplifying the complaints process, by receiving complaints verbally, for example;
providing you with a written response if we believe it nessary or at your request;
providing you with clear explanations of our conclusions and of the steps we took in processing your complaint.

Reception

We are committed to:

answering your phone call within 20 seconds (three rings);
keeping to appointment times, and if there is a wait, letting you know how long it will be.

First contact

We are committed to:

acknowledging receipt of your inquiry within two business days;
informing you of the name of the person in charge of your file as soon as possible;
if your inquiry does not fall within our jurisdiction, referring you to the appropriate body within two business days.

Complaints involving Québec government departments and agencies

We will do our best to finish processing your individual complaint within 2 weeks (10 business days) of receiving the documents we need for investigating your complaint. If this is not possible, we will inform you of the next deadline we can reasonably expect to meet.

Complaints involving Québec health and social services authorities

The Québec Ombudsman generally intervenes only as a second remedy in complaints regarding the health and social services network.

You should first file your complaint or report with the service quality and complaints commissioner at the relevant institution.

If your complaints involves community organizations or private senior citizens' homes, you should first approach the service quality and complaints commissioner for your regional health and social services agency. The same goes for complaints about ambulance services, except for in the Montréal or Laval regions, in which case complaints should be filed with the Corporation d’urgences-santé.

If you are not satisfied with your local or regional commissioner’s conclusions, or you fear reprisals, bring your concern to the Québec Ombudsman. We will do our best to process an individual complaint within 3 months (60 business days) of receiving the documents we need for investigating your complaint.

We use our judgement to prioritize the files and treat them in order of urgency.

The quality of our services

If you are dissatisfied with the manner in which the Québec Ombudsman has dealt with your inquiry, you may contact our service quality officer verbally or in writing.

We are committed to:

acknowledging receipt of your complaint regarding the quality of our services, verbally or in writing, within two business days;
doing our best to give you a substantiated response within 6 weeks (30 business days). We will inform you if this deadline is not feasible.

Complaints regarding quality of service are addressed with a view to continuing improvement.

Do not hesitate to suggest ways we can improve our services.

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