Being queer and francophone often means having to navigate a healthcare system that was not designed with you in mind.  

Across the board, the health inequalities experienced by LGBTQ2S+ people cannot be ignored. As the PTP Pink Paper 2026 showed, 40 percent of 2SLGBTQIA+ people have received a mental health diagnosis, compared to 20 percent of non-queer people. The most essential services, such as mental health care and gender-affirming care, are also the least accessible and the least satisfactory, country-wide. Finding suitable care in French becomes even harder, especially outside of predominantly francophone areas. 
 

People living in rural regions especially face multiple barriers: there are few services available in French, and people have to drive for hours to consult a specialist whenever they need vital services such as gender-affirming care. 
 

To better understand the healthcare barriers that queer and trans francophones face in rural areas, Script spoke with Alter Acadie’s Dominique Tremblay.