Take Action · Petitions & Campaigns
Add your name. Demand change.
Petitions and campaigns turn individual experiences into collective power. Everything you need to understand each campaign — and act on it — is right here on this page.
Featured petition
Fragrance-free healthcare spaces
Our call to action was read at the National Assembly of Québec
On May 6, 2025, ASEQ-EHAQ was at the National Assembly of Québec to represent our community and amplify the voices of those living with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). Our call to action was read, demanding fragrance-free healthcare spaces. Mr. Gregory Kelley was the member of the National Assembly responsible for this petition.
The case is simple: more than 1 million Canadians aged 12 and over have a medical diagnosis of MCS — 3.5% of the population, around 72% of them women and around 49% over 55 years of age (Statistics Canada, 2020). Fragrances are a major trigger, and hospitals and clinics full of scented products remain inaccessible to the very people who need them. Fragrance-free healthcare is an accessibility measure, and it improves air quality for everyone.
Campaign · Demand Change for MCS
How we got here — and what we are demanding
The Demand Change campaign calls on the Minister of Health and Social Services of Québec and the government of Québec to act. The story behind it spans two decades.
ASEQ-EHAQ is founded to protect the environment and human health through awareness, support, and education on the impacts of environmental exposures.
Petition to the Minister of Health and Social Services of Québec requesting that May be declared the month for recognition and education on MCS, and May 12 be MCS Day in Québec. The government tabled it and instead mandated the INSPQ to review the scientific literature on MCS.
ASEQ-EHAQ meets the INSPQ to discuss the review. Both the INSPQ and the Ministry give written assurances that experts and ASEQ-EHAQ will be consulted throughout — assurances that were never honoured over the following seven years.
The INSPQ report is released on June 29, concluding that MCS is caused by anxiety. The mandate had been changed without consulting or informing ASEQ-EHAQ, its medical and research advisors, or people with lived experience — and science previously shared with the INSPQ was omitted.
Our call to action is read at the National Assembly of Québec on May 6, demanding fragrance-free healthcare spaces, with MNA Gregory Kelley responsible for the petition.
Three demands to the government of Québec
Recognize
The government of Québec must recognize Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) as a health condition and disability in Québec — the essential first step to proper care and accommodation.
Remove
The 2021 report must be removed from the INSPQ website, given the high probability of causing intense harm to people experiencing MCS and the significant flaws in its methods, analysis, reporting, and procedures identified by experts and doctors.
Revise
The report should then be revised within six months to incorporate the broad scientific knowledge and consensus on the effects of chemicals on health, with the input of experts and people living with MCS.
The INSPQ report
What experts found wrong with it
Scientists and doctors who read the 2021 INSPQ report identified serious flaws. Here is the substance of their response:
- Experts were shut out. The report disregarded researchers and medical doctors trained in MCS, as well as people with lived experience of the condition.
- Critical science was missed. It failed to include, or misinterpreted, several critical studies demonstrating a biomedical chemical sensitization.
- The mandate was quietly changed. Instead of describing how to care for and accommodate people with MCS, the review shifted focus — without consulting or informing anyone who had been promised a seat at the table.
- Known exposure science was ignored. The health effects of exposures known to initiate and trigger MCS — including air pollution and occupational exposures affecting emergency responders, painters, industrial workers, and beauticians — were not examined.
- Real-world consequences were never assessed. The report does not discuss how its conclusion affects requests for accommodation, healthcare, or support for hundreds of thousands of people.
Campaign · Elections
Make MCS an election issue
Election periods — federal, provincial, or municipal — are when candidates listen hardest. Here is how to be heard, whether the writ has dropped or not:
- Ask every candidate where they stand on recognizing MCS as a health condition and disability, and on fragrance-free essential services.
- Raise accessibility at the door and at debates. Healthy housing, accessible healthcare, and least-toxic public spaces are election issues — make candidates say so on the record.
- Send the letter. Our ready-made letter works for candidates as well as sitting representatives — copy it here and press send.
- Bring others with you. Share campaign materials with your networks so candidates hear from many voices, not just one.
One signature takes a minute. Change takes all of us.
Keep going