“Time is running out” to adopt the CAQ reform of the Directorate of Youth Protection (DPJ), believes Régine Laurent, who nevertheless invites the government to reinforce the flagship principle of its bill.
The former trade unionist, who last year signed a key report on the future of the DPJ, testified Tuesday morning as part of the special consultations on Minister Lionel Carmant’s Bill 15. Despite some caveats, she urged Quebec elected officials to adopt it “quickly”.
“You heard us,” she told Minister Carmant through screens. “The bill, obviously, could be improved. [Mais] you have to go fast, ”she continued.
Bill 15 seeks to make the interests of the child “a primary consideration in the application of […] law “. Concretely, he would make sure to modify the placement criteria available to judges and DYP employees in order to ensure the safety and development of the young person.
However, the preamble of the legislative measure misses the target, suggested Régine Laurent on Tuesday. By affirming that the interest of the child is “a” consideration, Quebec ignores the conclusions of its report, she said.
“When you read that, it means that it is one consideration among others. This is not at all the spirit in which we worked. It must be “the” consideration “, she underlined in broad strokes.
Passage to adulthood
On Tuesday, the nurse by training criticized Minister Carmant for not having listened to the Laurent report with regard to the transition to adult life. The document, filed in May 2021, called on the state to grant young people a grace period up to age 21 for those who wanted to stay in foster care.
“In audience, young people told us: stop being a homelessness factory,” she said. Staying with a host family means you don’t end up on the street with broken dreams. »
The bill provides for the moment to allow young people in care to go in search of a transitional living environment six months before reaching adulthood. But according to Minister Carmant, extending the transition period would be a legislative challenge.
“The lawyers tell us that the law applies until the age of 18, so it would have been difficult to go up to 21,” he said.
The Barreau du Québec, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador and the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel of Health and Social Services will make known their point of view on Bill 15 on Tuesday afternoon.