Under federal law C-92, dated 2020, the First Nations of Quebec have the right to manage their own child protection services. The Quebec Court of Appeal confirmed the validity of this law on Thursday, almost entirely dismissing Quebec’s challenges.
Since the entry into force in January 2020 of this law C-92, all the indigenous nations of the country can vote themselves a law on the protection of youth concerning them. This Aboriginal law, when adopted, can for example prevent the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DYP) from setting foot in their community.
A Court of Appeal judgment rendered Thursday validates C-92 and thus declares that Indigenous laws are equal with federal and provincial laws.
This is, among other things, what Quebec was contesting. The government has always said that it agrees with the principle of the law, but was opposed to the “form” of C-92. “The objective has always been to protect the skills of Quebec,” says one to the cabinet of the Quebec Ministry of Justice, which prefers “to read the judgment” before commenting further.
On the other hand, the Court of Appeal issued two reservations which invalidated C-92 in part. One of the paragraphs of the text implies that Aboriginal laws “shall prevail over any inconsistent provision of provincial law”. However, “giving absolute priority to this right [ancestral] is not allowed under the Canadian constitution. In other words, federal law cannot interfere in the coordination between aboriginal and provincial laws.
This conclusion prompted Chief Ghislain Picard, of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AQPNL), to urge the Quebec government to react. “Quebec doesn’t really have the choice of cooperating,” he points out.
This decision is particularly pleasing to him because it is the culmination of decades of claims before several commissions and inquiries. “We are in the best position to ensure the well-being of our populations, and more particularly of our children,” he argues. The province of Quebec will have to understand that this political will will not run out and that any interference will be strongly denounced. »
The Attikameks of Opitciwan were the first to forge their own youth protection law a few weeks ago. More than fifteen communities have expressed their desire to follow this path towards self-determination.
A paradigm shift
For the social worker emeritus and specialist in the matter at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, Christiane Guay, a real paradigm shift can thus begin among the approximately 200,000 Aboriginal people in Quebec.
“The way of taking care of children comes from a conception of the family that is completely different from ours,” she explains.
The resolution of conflicts among the First Nations requires more consensus. “Research in delinquency, in other fields of youth protection, comes to the same conclusions. To impose a law, judicialization, it goes against the grain of ways of doing things. »
Indigenous laws thus risk extending the importance of “customary custody”, a practice already in force in several communities to protect the youngest. “There are already children who have not lived with their parents since almost their birth, but with their uncles, their aunts, their grandparents”, assures Christiane Guay. In many of these communities, the term family extends to the whole nation.
The adoption of Indigenous laws will precisely provide the flexibility required by the differences between the cultures of the First Nations, she adds. “If there’s anything you need to understand, it’s that each nation, each community has a particular way of doing things. These differences must be respected. »
According to the 2016 census, Indigenous people make up less than 8% of the Canadian population, but 52% of children in care are Indigenous.