Popular mobilizations over the years have brought to light the discriminatory treatment suffered by children because of the immigration status of their families and have forced Quebec elected officials to act to achieve equal opportunities. In 2017, the Education Act was amended to allow children without status in Canada free access to the school system. Then, in 2021, the necessary legislative and regulatory provisions were amended to make eligible for the health insurance plan and the general prescription drug insurance plan all children, regardless of their immigration status.
It is therefore with dismay that the Association of Immigration Lawyers (AQAADI) notes that the fundamental principles that led to these legislative advances — the right of every child to education and health — are absent from the reflections and actions carried out by the Government of Quebec regarding the future of the network of educational childcare services.
First, in 2018, the Ministère de la Famille did an about-face regarding its interpretation of section 3 of the Regulation respecting the reduced contribution, so that asylum seekers are no longer eligible for it, thus making financially childcare services are inaccessible to their children. Since 2018, hundreds, even thousands of families in our territory have been excluded from these essential services, often for several years.
The launch of the “Major worksite for families” and Bill no.oh 1 (An Act to amend the Educational Childcare Act to improve access to the educational childcare services network and to complete its development), the detailed study of which in parliamentary committee is underway, could have been an opportunity to correct the situation and dream of a Quebec where the fundamental rights of every child are recognized and implemented, but the Minister of Families persists and signs: no legislative or regulatory amendment provides for access care services for any child regardless of the immigration status or lack of immigration status of their parents. This major flaw in the bill shows that the Ministry of Family’s intention is to continue to exclude from childcare services children whose parents are asylum seekers or do not have immigration status.
The principles that led to the legislative and regulatory changes that allow children access to the education and health systems must prevail a fortiori in matters of early childhood. To name just one example, early detection of developmental delays or various disorders can avoid serious consequences for the well-being of children. In addition, access to childcare services allows their parents to integrate the labor market more quickly and to carry out the procedures aimed at regularizing their status more soundly.
This week, opposition MPs (QS, PQ, PLQ) proposed and supported an amendment to include access to subsidized childcare services for all children of asylum seekers and others with precarious status. . A trial will take place in the Superior Court on this subject on April 21 and 22: we are therefore calling on the provincial government to adopt this amendment without delay. One of the six priorities targeted by the government as part of its “Major project” is to “put equal opportunities back at the heart of our action”. This ideal will remain a dead letter as long as children are excluded from the system because of the migration trajectory of their parents.