Victim of chronic seizures resulting from chemical burns due to a defective airbag more than 25 years ago, Nancy Leblond says she was abandoned by the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), which had pledged to help her before accessing in power.
“I was treated disrespectfully, used and thrown away after use,” says Nancy Leblond.
The woman, who lives near Quebec, lives with attacks of constant acute pain that send her to receive morphine injections in the emergency room. She is undergoing treatments for which she has to swallow 30 tablets a day, or more than 10,000 tablets a year.
“Despite everything, the pain continues,” she said. I get electric shocks to my brain and face all the time, 24/7. On the pain scale, I’m at 7 and 8 every day. »
His only lifeline: going to live in a warm climate. His neurologist recommends that he spend six months in such a climate since the cold on his face exacerbates the problem and causes pain that is practically impossible to bear. She hardly ever leaves her apartment in the winter, because the cold is so painful for her face that it causes seizures.
In 2017, Benoit Charette, current Minister of the Environment and MP for Deux-Montagnes with the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), contacted her at home. “He told me that in the upcoming elections, if his political party came back to power with a majority, he would do everything to help me,” she recalls. However, since the CAQ took power, nothing has been done to improve its situation, says Ms. Leblond.
On May 30, 2019, at the invitation of Sylvain Lévesque, Member of Parliament for Chauveau with the Coalition avenir Québec, Ms. Leblond and her spouse went to the National Assembly to table petitions to modify the no-fault regime ( no fault in English) in Quebec. Since then, the two politicians have cut off communications with Ms. Leblond.
Contacted by La Presse, Minister Benoit Charette’s office did not respond to our interview requests. The office of MP Sylvain Lévesque refused our request for an interview, and instead invited us to contact the Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ).
It was during a low-speed collision as a passenger in a GM car in Montreal in 1995 that Ms. Leblond suffered significant chemical burns to her face. The airbag failed to deploy, blowing -200 degree gases into his face, causing permanent damage.
Since then, Transports Quebec directs it to the SAAQ, which then directs it to Transports Quebec, and so on.
“I typed two petitions, with two political parties, plus a passage to the National Assembly… I can explain to them, sit down, give them papers, there is nothing to do, it does not pass not. At some point, I am a human being,” says Ms. Leblond.
Gino Desrosiers, spokesperson for the SAAQ, notes that the Company introduced in 2022 the payment of a minimum income replacement indemnity, based on the average weekly income of workers in Quebec, for customers with injuries or sequelae of catastrophic nature.
“Being in its first year of implementation, the Company will later assess whether a review of this regulation is required,” he said. Ms. Leblond receives everything to which she is entitled under the insurance coverage provided by law. In particular, she receives income replacement indemnities, she received indemnities for consequences and other forms of compensation. »
Ms. Leblond says she and her caregiver spouse each receive $1,820 a month, which allows them to meet their basic needs, but not to spend the winter months in a warm climate.
“My seizures are less severe when I spend the winter months in a warm, dry place, but I can’t afford that financially,” Leblond says.
Lawyer Marc Bellemare, who has supported her in this case for years, notes that “the CAQ unfortunately did not respect its commitments” to Nancy Leblond.
“Nancy Leblond was seriously injured, she was disfigured with major facial burns. She can’t go out in the winter, she just goes out in the summer. It’s a life of misery. »
She would like to sue GM, the automaker behind her crash, but can’t because her crash happened in Quebec, he says.
“The CAQ had promised him to touch on this, to pay him compensation and to improve his lot and to allow him to sue the manufacturer, but it was never done. »
On July 1, 2022, Law 22 was amended. Some allowances have been increased, but this has no effect on Ms. Leblond’s condition, notes Me Bellemare. “It’s a dashed hope. »
The only way for her to get better terms is through legislative change, the lawyer says.
“Since March 1, 1978, it’s been the same thing: there is no recourse possible against automobile manufacturers in Quebec, whereas it is possible to do so elsewhere. So I can’t move. It is pathetic. »
