No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication

Canada’s multiculturalism is situated within a bilingual framework that often restricts Canada’s linguistic diversity, which goes beyond its official languages. The limitations of this framework were exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which government-led crisis communication strategies were...

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Main Author: María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
Format: Article
Language:Aragonese
Published: Escola d'Administració Pública de Catalunya 2025-06-01
Series:Revista de Llengua i Dret - Journal of Language and Law
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistes.eapc.gencat.cat/index.php/rld/article/view/4296
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author María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
author_facet María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
author_sort María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
collection DOAJ
description Canada’s multiculturalism is situated within a bilingual framework that often restricts Canada’s linguistic diversity, which goes beyond its official languages. The limitations of this framework were exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which government-led crisis communication strategies were guided by the country’s multilingual reality and the risks associated with ignoring it. This article focuses on a case study that examines multilingual communication strategies and practices coordinated during the pandemic by the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal. Drawing on documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews, the article reveals that Santé publique Montréal integrated a multilingual approach into its emergency communication strategy after the first wave of the pandemic, which resulted in more translations of COVID-19 information, and the implementation of bottom-up communication practices in collaboration with community-based organisations to build trust. The article also shows that the pandemic paved the way for a risk-based approach to language management capable of helping us rethink multilingualism management in Canada and beyond.
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spelling doaj-art-9b78c5b2f2ed4c3e85d8488cd0ef97fb2025-08-20T03:21:31ZargEscola d'Administració Pública de CatalunyaRevista de Llengua i Dret - Journal of Language and Law0212-50562013-14532025-06-018310.58992/rld.i83.2025.4296No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communicationMaría Sierra Córdoba Serrano Canada’s multiculturalism is situated within a bilingual framework that often restricts Canada’s linguistic diversity, which goes beyond its official languages. The limitations of this framework were exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which government-led crisis communication strategies were guided by the country’s multilingual reality and the risks associated with ignoring it. This article focuses on a case study that examines multilingual communication strategies and practices coordinated during the pandemic by the Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal. Drawing on documentary evidence and semi-structured interviews, the article reveals that Santé publique Montréal integrated a multilingual approach into its emergency communication strategy after the first wave of the pandemic, which resulted in more translations of COVID-19 information, and the implementation of bottom-up communication practices in collaboration with community-based organisations to build trust. The article also shows that the pandemic paved the way for a risk-based approach to language management capable of helping us rethink multilingualism management in Canada and beyond. https://revistes.eapc.gencat.cat/index.php/rld/article/view/4296multilingual crisis communicationCanadaQuebecCOVID-19 pandemicrisk-based approach to multilingualism managementDirection régionale de santé publique de Montréal
spellingShingle María Sierra Córdoba Serrano
No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
Revista de Llengua i Dret - Journal of Language and Law
multilingual crisis communication
Canada
Quebec
COVID-19 pandemic
risk-based approach to multilingualism management
Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal
title No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
title_full No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
title_fullStr No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
title_full_unstemmed No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
title_short No one is safe until everyone is safe: Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal’s risk-based approach to multilingual crisis communication
title_sort no one is safe until everyone is safe direction regionale de sante publique de montreal s risk based approach to multilingual crisis communication
topic multilingual crisis communication
Canada
Quebec
COVID-19 pandemic
risk-based approach to multilingualism management
Direction régionale de santé publique de Montréal
url https://revistes.eapc.gencat.cat/index.php/rld/article/view/4296
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