A 16-year-old Inuit girl who was deprived of any contact with her family and culture for years while she was placed under the responsibility of the Director of Youth Protection (DYP) in southern Quebec, found itself “in the process of very advanced assimilation,” deplores judge Peggy Warolin in a judgment made public last month.
A decision which illustrates the various problems linked to the placement of children thousands of kilometers from home, reported by The duty SATURDAY.
Lisa, a fictitious first name intended to protect her identity under the Youth Protection Act, was 5 years old when the DYP intervened in her life for the first time due to problems with domestic violence and her parents’ drug abuse. . Two years later, after dozens of placements, she found herself in southern Quebec and has never returned to live in Nunavik since.
The judge notes that, in one of the foster families where she lived for more than three years, the child had very few links with her family, because the foster mother found that Lisa had difficult behaviors in the days and weeks following his contacts. She therefore wanted to protect it by minimizing them as much as possible. “This is how, gradually and considering her age at that time, she distanced herself from everything that represents her culture,” we can read in the judgment of nearly 60 pages.
“Not only did such a solution go against the provisions of the Law, because it was contrary to the interests of the child, but it contributed to entrenching a trauma, which is today all the more difficult to work with. We cannot repeat enough that the objective of the Law is to put an end to a situation of compromise, certainly not to make it worse. »
However, the protocol provides for a minimum of two visits to the North per year and the development of a plan aimed at maintaining the cultural heritage of Inuit children. Judge Warolin recalls that the DYP has an obligation to ensure that these legal provisions are respected when the child is placed outside Nunavik. “In the situation that concerns us, the child had been so cut off from her culture that she found herself in a very advanced process of assimilation. »
64 placements
In 2021, after having been the subject of a total of 64 foster care placements and 14 emergency placements in 7 years, Lisa was placed in a rehabilitation center.
Although there are such resources in northern Quebec, it was agreed by the treating team to keep her in the South since she did not have a life plan there, notes the judge, who heard different speakers during the hearings. “The clinical decision to ultimately want to keep her in the South could then be explained, but could not be justified either from a therapeutic point of view or from a legal point of view,” notes the judge.
Arriving at a center that welcomes young Inuit girls from outside Nunavik, Lisa had difficulty adapting, suddenly understanding that she had not been able, for all these years, to benefit from the same rights as her sisters.
“The sudden and unprepared re-exposure to the idea that she would now be in a unit with girls who spoke Inuktitut, who traveled home for visits, forced her to realize her reality,” explains the child psychiatrist who followed Lisa, in testimony transcribed in the judgment. Is she Inuit or not? She doesn’t speak Inuktitut. She has no relationship with her parents. She has no visitors at home. »
Trauma
Against the advice of professionals, Lisa was once again changed environment when a place became available in another center in the South, which compromised her therapeutic follow-up. “Let us remember that X’s traumas come from her experience in the North, of course, but they also come from what she experienced in the South and what she continued to experience during her placement, which is all the more worrying », writes the judge.
The teenager has since called for a “reconnection” with her community. However, when a previous judge orders the resumption of visits in his community, they are delayed due to logistical problems, deplores Judge Peggy Warolin.
“The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that the basis of the decisions taken. X was thus deprived of her right to preserve her cultural identity. This traumatic violation, which took place over several years, was added to the trauma already present. »
Systemic discrimination
The judge deplores the lack of resources in Nunavik for Inuit adolescents who need rehabilitation services, which forces them to be placed in southern Quebec when the centers in their region are overflowing.
“The Court is not seeking to know here what prevents or does not prevent the construction of centers in the North. The court can only note, however, that in Quebec, no other group of adolescents in need of rehabilitation services must submit to placement so far from their original environment. In addition to constituting systemic discrimination, the distance between the adolescent’s place of accommodation and his community, the complexity of the movement, and the severance of emotional and cultural ties go against the objectives of the Law concerning children. , First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth and families. »
Judge Warolin orders a series of measures aimed at ensuring Lisa’s stability, therapeutic follow-ups and a real reconnection to her culture. It also orders the DPJ to “review its mode of operation in order to be able to fully fulfill its obligations, as provided for by the Law”.
She “invites the community to take its rightful place” to facilitate the organization of cultural activities during youth visits to Nunavik. She finally orders the transmission of the judgment to the minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, and to the minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit, Ian Lafrenière.
“This decision illustrates the findings made by Judge Jacques Viens as part of the work of the Commission of Inquiry into Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services: listening, reconciliation and progress remain relevant,” concludes the judge.