No room for failure

Two Francophone students from Northern Ontario reached out to us with concerns about the quality of the French version of the accreditation exam for emergency medical care assistants. According to the students, the French version of the exam contained grammatical and contextual mistakes that affected the interpretation of the text. These mistakes could put their careers in jeopardy because if assistants fail the exam, they must stop working and wait to retake it. The students told us they were afraid that failing the exam would harm their careers. Unable to wait any longer to join the workforce, one of the students ended up deciding to take the exam in English. She had to pay for additional training in order to be able to understand the material in English. We brought this issue to the attention of the Ministry of Health, which is in charge of administering the theory exam for assistants.

RESULT: The Ministry informed us that a second translator would be joining the management committee for theory exams. The English and French exams will also be reviewed to ensure content is equivalent in both versions. Lastly, as another result of our intervention, the Ministry will add another step to the French exam review process that will use the Ontario government’s translation services to validate the French content before use. Our Office will continue monitoring this case.

Learn more about the French Language Services Unit which answers questions and takes complaints about services in French.
Read about how we helped other people in our Selected cases.