“It’s time to act, before everyone ends up dead”

A dozen members of the A.A.R.V.S. (in english, Association of Injured Drivers Victims of the SAAQ) have been picketing day and night since Monday morning, in front of the offices of Quebec's public road safety insurance (SAAQ). They are seeking to draw attention to their suffering in the face of a bureaucracy that ignores them, denouncing abuse of power, mistreatment and harassment.

North Star visited the picket to meet members of the association, including president Christiane Vallière, who explains that she wants to “denounce injustice and fight for the injured, who are dying and losing everything.”

Each protester has their own dispute with the SAAQ, but all their stories come together on one point: their dignity and living conditions are being sacrificed so that the state-owned company can save money. In fact, many of the injured claim on the association's Facebook group that the SAAQ considers them fit to work, despite medical diagnoses to the contrary.

“What I wanted was help that came from the heart,” explains Kevin Turcotte, a heavy machinery operator who was involved in a serious car accident in 2007. “What I got was, 'Sir, you're okay, you don't have a problem.' They ignored me completely.”

Lise, for her part, explains that the SAAQ cut her benefits. “My injury was considered 'severity 4', but they managed to get it down to 'severity 3'. They took back over $18,000. On the other hand, I have a program in Alberta that, when I applied, considered me disabled. Then, after that, I applied to Canada Pension Disability and they accepted me too.” Lise then had to pay thousands of dollars for medical second opinions to prove her pain.

Yet this was not the only ordeal Lise had to face in her battle with the SAAQ. The crown corporation hired private investigators to shadow her in Quebec and Alberta, a situation that is not out of the ordinary for the crown corporation.

“They just want us to make a little mistake. That's what they want, because they want to cut. We understand the game. Listen, I think they were giving me $3,500. Now I'm down to $1,000. That's $2,500 a month in their pockets.

For Christiane, her first battle was to have her injury recognized. “At first, after my accident, I had to live for five years on my spouse's old-age pension. By the time they recognized my injury, it was too late. They made me an invalid. I had six more heart attacks."

It was then that she founded the AARVS, along with a few other road accident victims. “I'm a tired president, but I have no choice. I want to fight for my survivors."

“I have people who had good situations, who had good paychecks, who had good jobs,” she explains. “Then, from one day to the next, they find themselves with the minimum wage cut in half. You can't live on $1,400 a month.”

She adds: “When your rent is $1,100, how do you pay? Do you eat out of the garbage? Don't you wear clothes anymore? You almost want to kill yourself! How many people have committed suicide because of the SAAQ? They don't talk about it!"

Indeed, several cases of suicide have been reported in the last 10 to 15 years in connection with the SAAQ. Take for exemple Annie and Mario Beaudoin, a Saint-Félicien couple who took their own lives in April 2014 after a serious car accident followed by two years of bureaucratic torment.

“We have to assert our rights,” says Christiane, determined. “It's not a privilege that the government is giving us. They have to realize that these are rights. We pay for it, for the insurance.”

For several years now, Christiane and her association have been fighting to have cases settled and to obtain improvements in the law. But the SAAQ and the government don't seem prepared to listen.

She deplores: “At SAAQ, they're good at keeping you down. You've just been in an accident, you've got injuries, you're fighting because you're in pain. You fight to try to recover. You go to physio, ergo. You see a psychologist. And they screw with you for nothing. People are so crushed that they don't want to fight anymore. They're fed up. They can't take it anymore."

Christiane explains that the Minister of Transport, Geneviève Guilbault, had promised to meet her last year, through her political attaché. However, this meeting has still not taken place.

“Madame Guilbault ignored us,” says Christiane. “It's been a year, and I think we've been patient enough. I think with the life we have today, it's time to act, before everyone ends up dead.”

The demonstrators are still in front of 333 Boulevard Jean-Lesage in Quebec City. This morning, security guards reportedly began to provoke them, threatening to tow away their vehicles. They say they want to stay until they can get an official meeting.