Coöperation leads to correction

A French-speaking mother contacted us after discovering that her 3-month-old daughter’s health card contained a mistake. It was missing two dots over a letter in the girl’s first name (a diacritical mark called a diaeresis, or “tréma” in French, as in “Noël”). She stressed that all the information had been completed correctly at the hospital where the child was born, and the province had issued a birth certificate with the diaeresis. She questioned at which level the health card error had occurred.

“It’s really unfortunate, because I have a 3-month-old baby, but I have to go to a ServiceOntario office in person to ask for the change, and I don’t really have time to do that,” she told us. “I have to take this extra step to have the tréma added.” [Translation]

Result
We raised the issue with the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement. We learned that when a child is born in an Ontario hospital, the parents are asked to complete a form to enrol the baby in the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). The form goes to ServiceOntario, which issues the health card. The Ministry indicated that handwriting is sometimes difficult to read, which may explain the error.

We received confirmation from the Ministry that the correction was made without the mother having to go back to a ServiceOntario office. She was relieved to receive a new card with the requested correction.