International comparisons : Comparaisons internationales : un aperçu de l'accès aux soins de santé pour les communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire au Canada, en Espagne, en Belgique et en Finlande

By way of contrast, the Swedish-speaking population of Finland is estimated at 5.5% of the total.29 Despite the predominance of Finnish-speakers in Finland, the country has made a national-level commitment to protecting the rights of official language speakers. [...] For its part, the German language community has now established that members of the public in the German linguistic region have the right to send and receive communications with local authorities in the German language.45 In addition, education in the linguistic region is primarily in the German language – French being the second language of instruction. [...] Moreover, as the language requirements for the Belgian public service stipulate, appointment and promotion in the public service depend on the ability to function in the official language of the region. [...] The policy for providing health care is thus the responsibility of the Walloon Region for the French linguistic region (except for university hospitals, which come under the French Community), and the German-speaking Community for the German linguistic region. [...] According to Section 41, Part VII of the OLA, (1) The Government of Canada is committed to (a) enhancing the vitality of the English and French linguistic minority communities in Canada and supporting and assisting their development; and (b) fostering the full recognition and use of both English and French in Canadian society.54 53 The right to use English or French in certain public contexts figu