‘Trust is gone’ after lengthy Canadian Hearing Services strike, some deaf clients say – CTV
July 10, 2025
In early June, Jessica Sergeant waited five and a half hours for a sign language interpreter to arrive at her Ottawa hospital room while she had a cardiac emergency.
Sergeant, who is Deaf, said the long wait amid a strike by Canadian Hearing Services workers in Ontario was “traumatic.”
“I didn’t know what was going on with my heart. I didn’t know at all what was happening,” she said through an interpreter in a recent interview.
Sergeant said she was about to get into the ambulance when she texted the Canadian Hearing Services’ Ontario provider to request an in-person American Sign Language interpreter.
“And they said, ‘Have the hospital call us,’” Sergeant recalled.
She said there was no confirmation that an interpreter was coming by the time she got to the hospital, so she had to ask again by typing it out on her phone to show the hospital staff.
