She was forced to travel hours to give birth – a growing reality for families in Gaspé, Que.
when camille arsenault Realizing the water was off in her home in Gaspésie, Que., she rushed to her local hospital in anticipation of the arrival of her daughter Olivia.
But as she moved upward Hôpital De Maria, along with her partner, both nervous about becoming parents for the first time, were disappointed to learn that they would have to spend the next time becoming parents.lay on back for two hours Lack of ambulance due to shortage of staff in the hospital.
He was transferred to Hospital de Chandler – more than 130 kilometers away. She was warned about a week ago that this could be a possibility but was still told to go to Maria.
“We found ourselves far away from our home, our family,” he said. He was grateful, he said, that at least the staff at Chandler Hospital took good care of him.
“It’s worrying because we don’t know where we’re headed and everywhere (hospitals) are closed,” he said.
arsenault She is not the only woman forced to travel for hours to give birth. Many parts of eastern Quebec have had their maternity units temporarily closed in recent months due to staffing problems.
But the situation in Gaspé, and especially Haute-Gaspésie, has been particularly dire over the past year.
In 2025, the Hôpital de Sainte-Anne-des-Monts was closed for a total of 133 days, compared to only 27 days the previous year.
thWomen from that hospital are often sent to Matane in the Lower St. Lawrence, about an hour away.
“Of course depending on where they are in their pregnancy, we encourage them to settle or move temporarily to Matane, where we pay for accommodation for them,” said Jean St-Pierre, deputy executive director of CISSS de la Gaspésie.
CISSS was unable to say how many women in the area were redirected last year.
CISSS says only 1 maternity nurse left
The regional health authority announced that maternity services will also start in 2026 Interruption at Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, with The department will remain closed between January 1 and 7.
The issue, according to St-Pierre, is that only one maternity nurse works full-time in the area, while five other nursing positions have yet to be filled.
While the regional health authority also uses private agencies and a network of nurses who serve eastern Quebec when needed, St-Pierre said that is not enough for prevention closure,
He alerts the hospital’s maternity unit will probably close again For one week out of every two weeks in the coming months.
“It’s not really the situation we want,” St-Pierre said. “We are trying to actively step up our efforts to provide services to pregnant women in the Gaspé.”
When it comes to Haute-Gaspésie, St-Pierre says specialized nurses are often not satisfied because there aren’t enough women giving birth at the Sainte-Anne-des-Monts hospital.
On an average, 40 to 70 children are born in the hospital every year.
“A nurse who is really interested in obstetrics would probably choose a larger center where there are births every day,” St-Pierre said.
On days when there are no births, maternity nurses are assigned to other departments.
Véronique Ouellet, co-director of maison des familles haute-gaspésieBelieve this is part of the issue.
“Many nurses have quit because of working conditions,” she said. “There’s only one nurse who’s basically running the department and she’s probably going to run out of capacity as well.”
Ouellette says some women are forced to give birth in emergency rooms because the staff is less experienced in childbirth.
Other hospitals in Gaspé also saw service disruptions in their maternity units last year.
unit in hThe Capitol de Gaspé was closed for 10 days in 2025 and closed again from 30 December to 5 January.
The hospital in Baie des Chalmers was closed for 14 daysyes last year And Maria also saw service disruptions, including one that lasted several days in late December.
St-Pierre says CISSS has been looking for more nurses for maternity units for months, trying everything from career fairs to social media posts and promoting the area’s natural beauty and outdoor spaces to attract more staff.
But all this was of no use.
The regional health authority convened a committee last year to look into the issue and come up with solutions, but Ouellette, who was consulted by that committee, says he has seen no movement.
CISSS is also consulting with authorities in other regions, Like the Lower St. Lawrence, Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and Quebec City to get to the root of the problem in eastern Quebec.
“I’m becoming less and less hopeful that a solution will be found,” Ouellette said.
She wants the government to intervene in this.
Gaspé women treated like second-class citizens: PQ critic
Parti-Québecois health critic Joël Arseneau, MNA for the nearby Magdalen Islands, has been asking the province for years to commit more resources to obstetrics in eastern Quebec.
She accused the government of treating women in Gaspé like “second-class citizens”.
“If I had to give an example of how Sainte-Québec has completely failed, it would be to see maternity units closing here and there and everywhere,” Arseneau said in an interview. “It’s like if we’re short-staffed, the first unit that runs out is maternity.”
Health Minister Sonia Belanger declined a request for comment.
“Sainte-Québec is fully aware of the serious challenges that many regions are facing in obstetrics, in particular the lack of Gynecologists and Obstetricians” says the Crown CorporationNo written statement. ,
It further said it is working to determine whether there is a need for radical changes to the way maternity services are organized in the province.
