The Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected Quebec’s request to continue banning subsidized daycare for asylum seekers while waiting for the Supreme Court of Canada to rule.
The judgment makes “the parent who resides in Quebec for the purposes of an asylum application and who holds a work permit eligible for payment of the reduced contribution.”
Quebec asked the Court of Appeal to suspend the execution of its judgment of February 7, under which asylum seekers have access to subsidized daycares. The case will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The judgment of the Court of Appeal does not, however, require the government to immediately pay additional sums to create 4,663 additional places for asylum seekers.
“Clearly, the figures provided by [le gouvernement] demonstrate that the system has some catching up to do and the evidence does not allow us to believe that this backlog would be filled before the Supreme Court rules on this matter,” we can read in the judgment.
“Significant” pressure on the network
Quebec argues that “the sudden addition of a significant number of children in the network significantly increases the pressure on [le] diet “.
According to the Ministry of Families, as of September 30, 2023 in Quebec, 32,113 children were waiting for a place in an early childhood center, in a subsidized or unsubsidized daycare or with an educational daycare service in a community. family.
According to data from the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, in November 2023, there were 8,345 children, aged 0 to 4, asylum seekers welcomed in Quebec, of whom 6,676 are likely to wish for a place in an educational childcare service.
More details to come.