About Centre Expertise Acess

Our mission is to improve access to health and social services for English-speaking communities in Quebec

For English-speaking communities in Quebec, accessing health and social services in their own language remains a persistent challenge. CE-ACESS was created to help change that. We work with health and social service organizations across the province to identify the barriers that English-speaking Quebecers face when trying to access care, and to help those organizations adapt the way they design and deliver their services.

We don’t do this work alone. Our approach is built on collaboration between the healthcare network, community partners, and the research community. We believe that lasting improvements to access come from listening to the people most affected, grounding our work in evidence, and supporting organizations to make changes that are practical and sustainable rather than performative.

Our Expertise

How we put our mission into practice

Organizational Support

We work directly with health and social service organizations to help them understand where their services fall short for English-speaking communities and what it would take to close those gaps. That might mean identifying specific access barriers, reviewing how services are structured, or helping teams think through what adaptation looks like in their particular context.

Research and knowledge transfer

Good decisions need good information. We develop and share practical tools, frameworks, and research that help organizations and decision-makers understand the needs of English-speaking communities and act on that understanding. Our goal is to make sure useful knowledge doesn’t stay in academic silos but gets into the hands of the people who can use it.

Projects and Partnerships

We bring together researchers, institutions, and community organizations to advance projects that integrate accessibility from the start. We support initiatives at every stage, from funding applications and ethics review through to project coordination and connecting partners with the right resources.
Meet the Team

The people behind the work

Co-President
JHSB
Mélie Dechamplain is the director of the établissement regroupé Jeffery Hale-Saint-Brigid’s at CIUSSS de la Capital Nationale since 2022 and prior to this role she worked for Vancouver Coastal Health and Island Health in British Columbia.
Manager
JHSB
Marie-Pier Labelle has been the manager of the Jeffery Hale – Saint Brigid’s consolidated facility (DERJHSB) since 2025. She brings over twelve years of experience in the healthcare system, including more than five years in management roles.
At a Glance

What to know about CE-ACESS

  • Mission

    We work to improve access to health and social services for English-speaking communities in Quebec. Everything we do comes back to that core purpose: making sure that language isn’t a barrier to getting the care you need.

  • Approach

    Our work is practical, collaborative, and grounded in evidence. We listen to communities, partner with researchers, and work alongside organizations to develop solutions that hold up in the real world.

  • Expertise

    We bring together three areas of focus: organizational support, applied research, and strategic projects. Each one reinforces the others, allowing us to address access challenges from multiple angles.

  • Client base

    We work with healthcare organizations, community organizations, and academic and research partners across Quebec. Our collaborators share a common goal: building a health and social services system that works for everyone.