According to Minister Lionel Carmant, “there is an improvement in the duration of runaways” in the Youth Protection Department network. The numbers tend to back him up.
Data obtained by The duty with the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) indicate that despite the large number of runaways observed in youth centers in Quebec in 2022-2023, the vast majority of them had lasted less than a day.
In fact, according to statistics from the regional DYPs, 82.3% of runaways reported during the last fiscal year lasted 24 hours or less. This is about 5 percentage points more than the previous year (76.9%) and 13 more than five years earlier (69.4% in 2017-2018). In comparison, just over 8% of reported runaways in 2022-2023 lasted longer than 72 hours.
Last week, The duty pointed out that the number of runaways observed in youth centers in Quebec had doubled over the past three years. In fact, never in ten years has the DPJ seen so many runaways in the network.
Questioned during question period by the Liberal MP Brigitte Garceau, the Minister responsible for Social Services, Lionel Carmant, replied that it was necessary to go further than this increase: “most runaways are relatively short and often occur during visits to the family environment, with a delay in returning to the youth center,” he said.
In an interview, two groups, the Collectif ex-placed DPJ and the organization Dans la rue, confirmed the minister’s version of the facts.
In total, 1,294 different runaways were counted by the DPJ last year. According to data from the MSSS, 79.5% of leakage episodes were solo.
Contrary to what Minister Carmant said, however, the majority of runaways observed in 2022-2023 were made while the young people were under supervision in their place of accommodation. Only 6.6% of them were observed during an authorized family visit.