Subsidized daycare | Quebec will go to the Supreme Court to block access to asylum seekers

(Quebec) In a motion filed before the Court of Appeal, the government of Quebec announces that it intends to go to the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court, in order to prevent the children of asylum seekers from have access to subsidized daycares in the province.

In the meantime, the Attorney General of Quebec is asking the Court of Appeal to suspend the execution of its judgment until the Supreme Court of Canada has rendered a decision.

The Court of Appeal should rule within a few weeks, according to lawyer Sibel Ataogul, who defends this cause pro bono with his team.

Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette confirmed Wednesday that the government would appeal the case, but refused to explain why.

For Quebec, the judgment of the Court of Appeal has the effect of “modifying the status quo and to impose a solution on the government of Quebec while the courts have not yet ruled definitively on the questions raised by this case.”

In a unanimous decision announced on February 7, three judges of the Court of Appeal concluded that the government’s exclusion of asylum seekers from the program of access to subsidized childcare services constitutes a discriminatory measure against women and violates the right to equality protected by section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

Their decision is binding. Asylum seekers can therefore send their children to subsidized daycare at $9.10 per day for two weeks. But, in reality, many parents of asylum seekers face refusals.

“My request was rejected,” Aliancia Wednesday told The Press.

M^me Wednesday, 30 years old, Haitian asylum seeker and mother of two children, works in a subsidized daycare center, as an educational assistant. Her 18-month-old is enrolled in a private daycare for $40 per day.

“We have no choice,” she laments. You have to pay for daycare. We are not capable, but we struggle day by day to be able to pay it. We don’t even have the right to early repayments. It comes out of our pocket, and it’s a little difficult for us because we’re a low-income couple. »

A father, who requested anonymity, also suffered two refusals after registering his three-year-old son in 11 subsidized daycare centers near his home.

“We cannot pay for private daycare,” assures the asylum seeker. At $40, $50 for a day, it takes a whole salary to send a child to a private daycare, he emphasized in an interview.

“As soon as I saw the decision of the Court of Appeal, I registered my son in Place 0-5. The same day, a daycare contacted us. They sent us a message to say they have places, you can send your file. But as soon as I called her, and said I’m an asylum seeker, she said, no, sir, I’m sorry. I told him it was official. But she told me, no, sir, I just called the Ministry of Family personally. I was confirmed that it is not yet official. »

This subsidized private daycare, the Private Educational Center of Montreal, confirmed the information to The Press. “The Ministry tells us to wait, that there is no final decision yet,” explains a manager. We don’t really have any information. Basically, we just have the directive that it is not yet finalized. We are not saying that it will not be, but that, at present, we cannot yet accept them. »

Since 2018

The story dates back to 2018, when the Couillard government reinterpreted section 3 of the Regulations on the reduced contribution of the Educational Childcare Actwhich indicates that a person is eligible for subsidized daycare if they “stay in Quebec mainly to work there”.

According to the new interpretation that had been made by the government, since an asylum seeker is not in Quebec “mainly” to work there, but rather to find refuge there, he is therefore not admissible. Overnight, the families of asylum seekers were therefore excluded from reduced-rate daycare.

“The government has chosen to make asylum seekers eligible for the reduced contribution when they obtain refugee status.

The Superior Court rendered a first judgment on May 25, 2022, which ruled in favor of the plaintiff in this case, Bijou Kanyinda. This decision was appealed by the Quebec government to the Court of Appeal, which rendered its decision two weeks ago, also in favor of Ms.^me Kanyinda.

In reaction to the announcement that this case will be appealed again, the MP for Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne and responsible for family and immigration files for Québec solidaire, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, declared: “It is distressing to see the CAQ government persist in pointing the finger at asylum seekers. It is not by preventing their children from attending our CPE that the situation will improve. I ask the CAQ to respect the judgment of the Court of Appeal and to quickly integrate these children into the Quebec living environment, to begin their francization and to allow their parents to participate in resolving the labor crisis. works quickly. »