She was forced to travel hours to give birth — a growing reality for families in Gaspé, Que.

When Camille Arsenault felt her water break in her home in Gaspésie, Que., she rushed to her local hospital in anticipation of her daughter, Olivia’s, arrival. 

But as she pulled up to the Hôpital de Maria with her partner, both feeling the jitters of first-time parenthood, she was disappointed to find out she would have to spend the next two hours lying in the back of an ambulance because of a lack of staff at the hospital. 

She was transferred to the Hôpital de Chandler – more than 130 kilometres away. She had been warned about a week earlier that it might be a possibility but was told to head to Maria nonetheless.

“We found ourselves further away from our home, from our family,” she said, adding she was grateful, at least, that staff at the Chandler hospital took good care of her. 

“It’s concerning because we don’t know in what direction we’re heading and there are [hospital] closures everywhere,” she said. 

Arsenault is far from the only woman who was forced to travel for hours to give birth. Several parts of eastern Quebec have seen their obstetrics units temporarily shut down because of staffing issues in recent months.

But the situation in the Gaspé, and especially the Haute-Gaspésie, has been especially dire over the last year. 

In 2025, the Hôpital de Sainte-Anne-des-Monts was closed for a total of 133 days, compared to just 27 days the previous year. 

The women at that hospital are often sent to Matane, in the Lower St. Lawrence, about an hour away. 

"Depending of course on where they are in their pregnancy, we encourage them to settle in or temporarily move to Matane, where we pay for accommodations for them,” said Jean St-Pierre, deputy executive director of the CISSS de la Gaspésie. 

The CISSS was unable to say just how many of the region’s women had to be redirected in the past year.

The regional health authority announced 2026 would also kick off with an obstetrics services disruption at Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, with the department closed between Jan. 1 and 7.

According to St-Pierre, the issue is that the area only has one obstetrics nurse working full time, with five other nursing positions yet to be filled. 

While the regional health authority also uses private agencies and a network of nurses that serve eastern Quebec when need be, St-Pierre said it isn't enough to prevent the closures.