Medical students petition court to suspend controversial bill

Health Minister Christian Dubé’s Bill 2 faces its first real test in court Tuesday. 

The Quebec Federation of Medical Students (FMEQ), which brings together medical student associations from the universities of Montreal, McGill, Laval and Sherbrooke, is asking the Superior Court to suspend the law while the court decides on the merits of the case. 

The Federation objects to the provisions of the law that prohibit concerted actions aimed at harming or hindering the delivery of courses, and to the severe penalties that accompany such actions. Although these provisions target physicians themselves, the FMEQ believes the law is written in such a way as to also target concerted actions by student associations. 

However, the four associations have obtained strike mandates, believing that they and their representatives risk suffering the penalties provided for in the law. 

In this context, the Federation argues that the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on freedom of association and freedom of expression. The FMEQ also considers the fines stipulated in the law—$200 to $1,000 per day for individuals and $100,000 to $500,000 per day for groups—to be cruel and unusual punishments.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews