Twice since 2020, Health Canada has refused to allow the Ordre des chimistes du Québec to carry out a professional inspection of one of its employees. The federal body refused in January that the Order’s investigators set foot in its offices in Longueuil, which notably house its Drug Analysis Service.
Deploring an “obstruction” to the work of its inspectors, the Ordre des chimistes du Québec, which has the mandate to protect the public and monitor the practice of its members, filed an application for an injunction on January 18 to force Santé Canada to grant it access to its premises.
In the request, we can read that one of the Health Canada employees working in a “sector of risky practices”, namely the pharmaceutical sector, was randomly selected by the professional inspection program of his order.
In October 2022, an inspector from the Ordre des chimistes announced to the employee in question that he would be subject to a professional inspection at his workplace in Longueuil. However, Health Canada prosecutors refused, stating that “Her Majesty is not bound by provincial laws relating to professional orders,” reads the injunction request.
Not the first time
In December, the secretary and director general of the Ordre des chimistes, Patrick Paquette, wrote to Health Canada prosecutors to deplore that he “cannot [s’agisse] not the first occasion where the Ordre des chimistes finds itself faced with problems related to the professional inspection of one of its members practicing within the Government of Canada”. In the fall of 2020, a similar situation occurred with another Health Canada chemist. Rather than submit to an inspection, the employee at the time had simply not renewed her status as a member of the Ordre des chimistes du Québec.
In January, Health Canada prosecutors reiterated that they would not allow access to their premises. The Order of Chemists therefore turned to the courts. In its request for an injunction, the Order considers that Health Canada’s position “constitutes a clear and unjustifiable violation [des] provisions of the Professional Code” and said he was “concerned” by the situation.
Asked about the subject, Health Canada did not want to comment “since the dispute is before the courts”. However, the organization specifies that the employee in question does not work in the Drug Analysis Service. That “the analyzes carried out at Health Canada are subject to rigorous quality controls”, that its facilities “meet the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization for testing and calibration laboratories” and that “the laboratories of the health products hold an attestation from the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and Healthcare”.
Is Health Canada the only federal body to reject the jurisdiction of provincial orders? President of the Quebec Interprofessional Council, which brings together the professional orders of the province, Danielle Boué says she is currently preparing a status report on the issue in order to determine what to do next. Other professionals working in federal agencies belong to professional orders in Quebec, such as lawyers and engineers.
Precision
This text has been modified to specify that the Health Canada employee targeted by the inspection of the Ordre des chimistes du Québec does not work in the Drug Analysis Service, but in another service not specified by the organization. .