Closing the rehabilitation unit for disabled children Le Jardin was “the right thing to do,” said Minister for Social Services Lionel Carmant in reaction to the investigation. The Press on allegations of neglect and mistreatment of this establishment located at the Laval Youth Center.
Minister Carmant recognizes that“ there have been several issues in recent months » in the garden, but does not specify when he or his office were informed of it.
Since March 2023, several reports have been made to the Youth Protection Department (DYP) concerning allegations of negligence in terms of supervision, neglect in terms of care and abuse occurring at the Garden. These are alleged actions towards seven children placed in the unit which were the subject of these reports, revealed The Press Tuesday.
Read “It was violent for our son”
However, the unit was only closed 10 months later, last January.
The family of one of the children hosted – called D. for reasons of confidentiality – spoke to The Press. For months, the parents of the 9-year-old autistic and intellectually disabled boy said they were not allowed to enter the living unit.
Over the weeks, D.’s condition, whose functioning is similar to that of a 2-year-old child, deteriorated to the point that he ended up in the emergency room several times.
Broken arm twice, skin infections and numerous cavities due to lack of basic hygiene care, allergens given despite known allergies, atypical bruising as if someone had squeezed it: the list of physical abuses and alleged negligence is long.
D.’s family is now suing the CISSS de Laval for $500,000 in damages.
“We cannot accept any compromise on the care offered to users, particularly the most vulnerable,” said Minister Carmant in a statement sent by email.. His office says it cannot comment further on the situation due to ongoing investigations.
The Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights has opened an investigation. The City of Laval Police Department also.
Minister Carmant insists that “now, the important thing is to put in place more resources for people living with a disability or deficiency, particularly in the Laval region.” His government is “currently creating several adapted housing projects for our most vulnerable clienteles as well as respite places in all regions of Quebec, so that parents of disabled children can breathe,” he says.
Opposition parties “horrified” and “disturbed”
“ The story of this autistic child who was allegedly mistreated makes my blood run cold “, launch it Liberal MP Elisabeth Prass, herself the mother of a 10-year-old autistic child.
No parent who feels the need to place their child in the health care network should experience such a nightmare, says the spokesperson for the official opposition for people living with a disability or on the autism spectrum.
Because, insists the liberal MP, “ the parents made the right decision by entrusting their child to the State before they themselves reached their limits of physical and mental exhaustion “.
However, these parents must be assured that our institutions are adequately equipped to meet the needs of the children entrusted to them. The government has the responsibility to provide them with the necessary and safe supervision, as well as to ensure better surveillance of what happens there.
Elisabeth Prass, liberal MP
PQ MP Joël Arseneau said he was “troubled” that the managers of the CISSS de Laval did not act “sooner” when the “alarm signals”, including several reports to the DPJ, were numerous. “We slept on the gas or tolerated it too long before closing the unit,” he believes.
“I have a lot of misunderstanding about the way we treat the most vulnerable children in our society,” says solidarity MP Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, who admits having had difficulty reading the details of the allegations of abuse, including children were allegedly victims in this public establishment.
The revelations of The Press on the shortcomings of the staff working within the Le Jardin unit with regard to the application of control measures and on the significant turnover of this same staff – among other things due to the use of agencies – are all “worrying” elements, according to these elected officials from the opposition parties. Not to mention the fact that the parents were deprived of access to the said unit for 10 months, they deplore.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services – to which the national director of the DPJ, Catherine Lemay, reports – did not respond to our interview request on Tuesday.