Hello everyone,

I appreciate your time and consideration in reading this. As many of our friends and family know, my husband Luca experienced a significant mental health incident in June 2025. Out of respect for him, I would like to be mindful of what information I share. Essentially, a period of immense stress and pressure culminated into a mental health emergency that required an emergency ambulance transfer to the nearest hospital, and a nearly week-long stay. The entire experience was extremely stressful and traumatic for both of us.

While we thought the mental health emergency and hospitalization would be the worst of it, it really was just the beginning. We came home one day with mail informing us that we now owed the Quebec government $25,000 due to the services Luca was provided. We were in complete shock. Luca is in the process of obtaining his PR, but as a new comer with his specific type of work visa he did not have access to provincial healthcare in the province of Quebec at the time, and his private insurance would not cover mental health-related expenses. Unfortunately, our savings were also of little help at the time as we have both been students for the last two years and had taken a considerable amount of time off of full time work to accommodate.

We have discussed our dilemma with many professionals. The mental health team we have access to now in BC are deeply disturbed by our being charged this amount and believe it to be unjust, because Luca never consented to being transferred or hospitalized, but rather it was deemed necessary and beyond the limitations of consent. We have attempted to talk to the hospital and the government to no avail. Simply not paying the bill could potentially put Luca's immigration status at risk.

We did not ask for help initially because we didn't feel comfortable doing so. But now, half a year later, we have had to move across the country to receive more support from family and better health services, and Luca had to quit his job so he could fully recover. I have been financially supporting us fully for months, while also completing my masters.

While this has been an extremely stressful time, nothing has been more difficult than watching my husband feel the burden this debt has caused, and I haven't been able to do more to help with it as I have been managing all other expenses.

We greatly appreciate any support you can provide at this time.

Thank you,

Joelle