We all admired the passion and empathy of Régine Laurent when she chaired this commission of inquiry into the protection of youth, in the wake of the horrible death of this child martyr, in Granby.
I remember a combative Régine Laurent who thundered, just before the start of the work of the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection (CSDEPJ), that she would have the government watching, once the recommendations made.
“The report will not be shelved, trust me,” she said in September 20191.
Régine Laurent’s report was submitted in 2021. We are at the difficult stage of implementing the recommendations. Difficult ? We must align variables such as the working conditions of employees, internal rules, laws, the powers of each party, the creation of new positions, etc. to reality, etc. Not easy.
A group of child welfare experts formed the “CSDEPJ Monitoring Committee”. It was not created by the government. There are around twenty experts there who have detailed knowledge of the issues affecting young people in general and young people from the DPJ in particular.
We may not agree with their findings, with their concerns… But we cannot doubt their expertise. Here are some members2 of this CSDEPJ Monitoring Committee:
- Sonia Hélie and Denis Lafortune, researchers at the University Institute for Young People in Difficulty at the University of Montreal
- Julie Lane, researcher at the Center of Expertise in Mental Health at the University of Sherbrooke
- Geneviève Pagé, from the Research Team on Placement and Adoption in Youth Protection at the University of Quebec in Outaouais
- Martin Goyette, professor at the National School of Public Administration, specialized in public policies affecting young people
- Jessica Côté-Guimond, from the DPJ ex-placed collective
- Elise Bonneville, from the Petite-Enfance Collective
However, this Monitoring Committee is worried about the government’s follow-up of the recommendations of the commission chaired by Régine Laurent and it is worried about the future3. He deplores a lack of transparency from the minister responsible for the DPJ, Lionel Carmant. He is less optimistic than the minister himself.
The Committee notes, for example, that at this rate, the 65 recommendations will not be implemented in 6 years as Mr. Carmant hopes, but in 20 years.
The government’s response to these criticisms took place along two equally detestable lines.
First, Prime Minister Legault reduced the CSDEPJ Monitoring Committee to a den of PQ members, citing the presence of Martine Desjardins and Camil Bouchard4.
Mme Desjardins chairs the Monitoring Committee, it’s true. She was a PQ candidate (defeated) in 2014, it’s true.
For the PM, this discredits the work of around twenty people including Mme Desjardins speaks, around twenty experts in youth well-being. This is a very partisan view of an issue that should not be.
As for Mr. Bouchard, he was a PQ MP from 2003 to 2010. In his academic career, he embodied the fight for the well-being of children, with his report A Quebec crazy about its children.
And… he is not part of this Monitoring Committee. He assisted the Collectif Petite Enfance with the composition of the Monitoring Committee.
Two, the government used a letter from Régine Laurent as a sort of magic shield to repel all the criticism from all the youth experts on its action.
This is because at the end of April, Régine Laurent published a letter5 of a complacency which seems disconcerting towards the government. Addressing the child martyr of Granby, Mme Laurent praises government action and Minister Carmant…
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course. But the opinion of Mme Laurent on the performance of the Legault government in this matter is a dissenting opinion that almost no one shares in the youth protection ecosystem…
If the jovial point of view of Mme Laurent is shared by experts in child protection, notably those who worked in his own commission; I would be very curious to hear them say it publicly. For the moment, Mme Laurent seems isolated in his pro-government position.
At the end of April, I found while reading his letter that Mme Laurent showed a weakness that contrasted spectacularly with his pugnacity of 2019.
Then, a few days later, at the beginning of May, I found it uncomfortable to see the PM brandishing M’s letterme Laurent to belittle6 all the criticisms from all the experts who, unlike Mme Laurent, have devoted more than three years of their lives to the issue of children’s well-being.
Now move the cursor forward to Wednesday, May 22…
What do we learn by reading the composition of the board of directors of Santé Québec, the agency created by the government to manage health (for social services, we don’t really know)?
That Régine Laurent will be a member of the board of directors of Santé Québec7.
I find this dismaying: members of boards of directors of public companies are not in the habit of criticizing the State. Mme Laurent didn’t do it, so she never will.
This is too much for me, Madame Laurent. I must tell you my disappointment. I thought that in the name of this martyred child from Granby, you would cultivate your independence from the government responsible for implementing your recommendations…
This is not the case.
From now on, when you talk about children, Madam Laurent, I will no longer listen to you: the machine that you should minimally criticize has officially swallowed you up.
1. Read the article from Duty
2. Consult the list of members of the CSDEPJ Monitoring Committee
3. Read the Radio-Canada article
4. Read the article by The Press
5. Read the letter published in The Montreal Journal
6. See the intervention of François Legault
7. Read the article by The Press