“For us, this is something that we greatly deplore, so we mobilized with the aim of denouncing the government and asking it to take its responsibilities and allow the public services of the CNESST to be accessible to everyone,” explains Stéphanie Fouillat, communications manager for Illusion Emploi de l’Estrie.
In 2022, following the pandemic, the CNESST closed 20 of its 28 offices, which left none in Estrie, she continues.
“The first office open to the public from Sherbrooke is the one in Longueuil, which is 150 km away,” says Ms. Fouillat.
In reality, the CNESST still has an office in Sherbrooke, at 1650 rue King Ouest, but it is only accessible by appointment.
“The updating of the service offering is being rolled out in all reception areas of our offices spread across Quebec. This new service offering includes, among other things, the deployment of new digital services, the independent filing of documents and a personalized welcome by appointment,” reveals Antoine Leclerc-Loiselle, press relations advisor at CNESST by email.
The CNESST explains that this decision is “consistent with the government digital transformation strategy”. “The CNESST has been evolving its service offering for several years, in order to adjust to changes in customer service consumption habits.”
On the spot, The gallery came up against an empty room with only a telephone to greet us.
The CNESST offices in Sherbrooke. (Annie St-Onge Marchand)
Without an appointment, it is not possible to speak with someone.
A citizen also introduced herself at the same time as The gallery at the CNESST office. Although she did not have an appointment, she had to turn around without receiving service.
Relaunched following this experience more than a week ago, the CNESST did not respond further to our questions regarding the inaccessibility of its offices.
Not very simple
Illusion Emploi de l’Estrie has more requests and is also offered new services.
“We have a big increase in people who come to see us to request support and so that we can help them write their complaints. It’s not normal that we become a bit of an extension of services when that is not our primary role.”
— Stéphanie Fouillat, communications manager for Illusion Emploi de l’Estrie
Furthermore, the process for filing a complaint online is very complex, underlines the communications manager.
“For people in particular who are victims of harassment at work, they are obliged to file a complaint online, they have no choice. This is already a process that is very difficult for these people. They have to write up their entire version of the facts on the Internet, which is not easy because you have to be factual, you have to be clear and you have to include the right elements if you want the complaint to be admissible.”
She adds that even on the telephone, they are not well equipped.
“Because people, when they call, and they say that they don’t understand and that they don’t know how to file a complaint on the Internet, the person on the phone will not necessarily help them and will tell them that “They have to fill it out online,” she says.
Stéphanie Fouillat reveals that some people even go so far as to abandon a complaint because the process is too complicated.
“All the people who simply don’t have access to the Internet and temporary foreign workers, it makes the process a lot more complex for them too,” she mentions. We also notice that there are many people who ultimately abandon the possibility of filing a complaint because it is too complex.”
For Ms. Fouillat, awareness remains the key.
“We really think that it can only be done through the population to raise awareness of the fact that people are being left behind and that something must be done,” she concludes.
