Mr. Legault, you are known for your pragmatism and your ability to think in solution mode.
In the Roxham Road file, you eloquently urged the Trudeau government to take its share of the responsibilities, while expressing your concern about the ability of Quebec public and community services to welcome these newcomers with dignity. In your public positions, you particularly underlined the weight of the current migratory flow on the Quebec school system, and you affirmed: “I will not accept that a child, even if he is a refugee, not be sent to school every day”. This concern for the education of all children, regardless of their migration status, honors you and confirms your commitment to making education a priority for your government.
But do young asylum seekers, Mr. Legault, go under the radar?
There is now ample evidence that academic success and integration into society are absolutely critically dependent on development and education from the very first years of life.
However, the doors of CPEs and subsidized daycare centers in Quebec, which are the first links in our education system, are closed to the children of asylum seekers, whether these children were born in Quebec or not. This exclusion also applies to very young Ukrainian refugees, welcomed to Canada thanks to an exceptional immigration status. For these children, the developmental delays accumulated during early childhood, due to a lack of access to a quality educational environment, risk creating long-term problems of academic success.
These little ones, they were born on the way to exile. They lived the marches from the south to the north of America or left the Ukraine at war. They crossed our border on foot, via Roxham Road, or arrived at Montreal-Trudeau airport carried by the greeting of our Quebec society.
Our social medicine team accompanies these toddlers on a daily basis and can see the extent of their needs. The toxic stresses of war, violence, poverty and exile mark them as much as their parents.
Anxiety, silence, developmental and language delays, these children carry in their bodies and in their minds the impact of a violent uprooting.
A few years ago, schools in Quebec opened up to all children, regardless of their status. Isn’t it time, in the context of the current migration crisis, to come full circle and guarantee the right to equal opportunities for all children residing in Quebec, by opening the doors to asylum seekers early childhood centers?
Our Quebec society has made, within the framework of the Laurent commission, the moral commitment to take care of all its children. To set up a real network of benevolence for all our children, think also, Mr. Legault, of those forgotten toddlers who are children seeking asylum.
* Co-signatories of the interdisciplinary team of the Center de pédiatrie sociale de Saint-Laurent/At the heart of childhood: Lionel Alberti, pediatrician; Julie Baïlon-Poujol, pediatrician; Myrill Solaski, family physician; Sanja Stojanovic, pediatrician