The Health and Social Services Commission is currently examining Bill 37, aimed at creating the position of commissioner for the well-being and rights of children. A much-anticipated role since the submission of the Laurent commission report in 2021.
Parliamentarians will hear from several groups familiar with the needs on the ground. Their discussions, we hope, will enrich the project currently on the table and ensure that this new role really improves things for the children.
In order to shed light on these debates, we would like to highlight three aspects based on the most up-to-date scientific knowledge and experiential knowledge on the subject.
First aspect: prevention. Having documented in recent years the conditions favorable to the well-being and good development of children aged 0 to 5, we are delighted that the importance of acting preventively is noted in the preamble to the bill. Beyond improving the trajectory of prevention services, acting preventively also means improving living conditions.
For example, scientific research has shown that no single factor is responsible for mistreatment. The causes are generally multiple and closely associated with each other. The greater the number of risk factors to which the child is exposed, the greater the pressure within the family and the greater the overall risk of maltreatment. The main risk factors for mistreatment are housing conditions, parental mental health and low social support, poverty and the level of stress linked to family-work balance, all conditions which concern a plurality of ministries.
It is therefore by looking at all the policies that can influence these risk factors, and by ensuring that they are consistent with each other, that the action of the commissioner will be most significant.
Second aspect: more vulnerable children. While acting to promote and respect the rights of all children, it will be important for the commissioner to pay particular attention to toddlers who experience inequalities that compromise their development. Let’s think about those who live in low-income families, indigenous toddlers, children in need of special support or immigrant children.
Third aspect: resources commensurate with the mandate. To avoid confusion and duplication of resources, parliamentarians will have the task of clarifying the role of the commissioner, so that he acts in complementarity with the organizations already present in the ecosystem. They must also provide it with the necessary tools and resources so that it can fully and effectively carry out its mandate.
Among these resources, in order to effectively guide government actions in early childhood, it will be crucial for the commissioner to be able to quickly access precise, quality data, in order to adapt interventions within adequate time frames and evaluate their effectiveness. .
This bill constitutes an opportunity for Quebec to better assume its responsibility to “promote and respect the rights of children”, widely documented in the Laurent commission report. Let us ensure that we bring together all the ingredients for success for the person who will inaugurate this function, which is decisive for every toddler living in Quebec, without exception.