For the third time in barely a week, Quebec is rejecting a recommendation from the Viens commission on relations between Aboriginal peoples and certain public services in Quebec. This time, it is the reform of youth protection that sits at the heart of the case.
By closing the door to amending section 131.12 of his Bill 15, Minister Lionel Carmant formally refused to offer Aboriginal communities the possibility of overriding the placement deadlines defined in Quebec law. Only one way out is offered to them: the creation of a “family council”.
However, this model “is not a widespread practice in all nations and communities in Quebec”, according to the social services manager of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC). , Richard Grey. The latter wrote a letter to the minister on Wednesday urging him to reconsider his position.
“You say you want to maintain a ‘safety net’ if the child finds himself in an unfavorable situation, this safety net taking the form of the family council. We reiterate that we disagree with the fact of making the exemption from the maximum durations of accommodation subject to the establishment of a family council”, can we read in the letter sent to the Minister Delegate for Health and to Social Services.
‘Highly contested’
Since 2007, the Youth Protection Act has imposed maximum time limits for placing young people in the network. A child under the age of two, for example, will not stay in an alternative environment for more than a year. A child six years and older will be at most two years old before being moved.
The FNQLHSSC, like the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, has always opposed this principle, in particular because it “is based on a Western theory of attachment, the application of which to Aboriginal peoples is highly contested. So much so that in issuing the final report of his commission of inquiry in September 2019, Commissioner Jacques Viens recommended that the government exempt Indigenous communities from this part of the law.
“Indigenous children must in no way pay the price of cultural uprooting,” he wrote at the time. The recommendation in question also appeared in the final report of the Special Commission on Children’s Rights and Youth Protection chaired by Régine Laurent.
In his letter to the minister, Richard Gray proposes to remove from the bill the concept of “family council”, which he considers inappropriate. At the National Assembly, Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois hammered home this week the need to reopen the article in question to respond to the concerns of the communities. “I do not agree to reopen the chapter”, simply retorted Minister Carmant on Thursday.
By refusing to budge, the elected caquiste became the third elected official of François Legault’s government in 10 days to reject a call to action from the Viens commission. On March 29, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, opposed a proposal to create a national ombudsman for Aboriginal students. Then, the next day, the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Lafrenière, renounced his commitment to include the notion of cultural security in the Act respecting health services and social services.