The Quebec Court of Appeal will have to rule on access to daycare for asylum seekers

Will asylum seekers once again be able to send their children to subsidized daycare in the same way as other temporary immigrants? This is the question on which the Court of Appeal will have to decide on November 2.

“What we are asking is that asylum seekers have access to daycare [subventionnées] like everyone. We are not asking for preferential treatment, we just want them to be able to register their children on the waiting list like all other temporary immigrants,” declared Maryse Poisson, director of social initiatives at Collectif Bienvenue and spokesperson for the Daycare Access Committee.

The social worker finds it unfortunate that the battle has reached the courts. “We did it out of spite, because we find that it is a logical political decision to give asylum seekers access to daycare. »

It all started in 2018, following a reinterpretation of section 3 of the Regulation on the reduced contribution of the Educational Childcare Act. Until then, access to daycare at $8.50 per day was granted to any person holding a “work permit and [qui] stays in Quebec mainly to work there. Suddenly, the Liberal government of the day decided that asylum seekers were not here “primarily” to work and excluded them from the definition.

The Daycare Access Committee took the case to court and, in May 2022, the Superior Court of Quebec ruled in favor of the asylum seekers, recognizing that the Quebec government did not have the powers to reinterpret an article of the regulation on the reduced contribution to childcare services. A few weeks later, Quebec appealed the decision.

Five years without access

Five years after asylum seekers lost access to $8.50 daycare and to advance payments of the tax credit for daycare expenses, the Collectif Accès daycare still does not understand the “logic” of this choice . “It seems that the government felt the need to exclude part of the population from this list in order to be able to say that places are granted more quickly. It’s a shame that asylum seekers are bearing the brunt of the problems in our childcare system,” said Ms.me Fish.

For her, it is equally a shame not to facilitate access to the job market for asylum seekers who obtain their work permit very quickly – in about a month. “These are people who speak French or English most of the time and who have skills to offer. We are in shortage,” argues Maryse Poisson. Access to daycares is also very useful to enable francization, she adds. “We can just win there. »

She says she knows an asylum seeker who is paid to be an educational assistant in a daycare… who asks her for $40 per day to look after her only child. “His salary goes there, it’s absurd,” underlines Mme Fish.

“We’re stuck”

Karine, who is withholding her real name so as not to interfere with her asylum application, arrived in Quebec in 2021 with her husband and two children. Since then, she has had a third child, a Canadian citizen, whom she has to look after at home because he cannot attend subsidized daycare. “My son has access to RAMQ, but he is not even allowed to be on a waiting list to go to daycare,” she laments. Health insurance, yes, but not education insurance. »

A nurse in Haiti, Karine had found a job as a beneficiary attendant, but she had to leave it. “I earned too little to make it worth it,” she explained, adding that the bill for unsubsidized daycare can exceed $50 per day. She will soon try her luck in New Brunswick and would like to move there with her whole family. “I’m stuck here. I can’t even work or study to be a nurse. […] We are reduced to poverty. »

Karine believes that these years without daycare do not allow her child to socialize and integrate. “Daycare isn’t just for us, it’s good for the children too. Imagine people who don’t speak French and who are at home for years with their children. Problems will arise when they [les enfants] are going to start school,” she maintains.

Maryse Poisson agrees. Not giving asylum seekers access to subsidized daycare will only delay their integration into Quebec society. Especially since a majority of them are accepted as refugees. “68% of asylum seekers will be accepted at the first stage of the hearing and others will be accepted on appeal. These are people who will stay here and their future is being mortgaged. Why not treat them now as people who will contribute to the economy and our society? »

She hopes that the Court of Appeal will rule on the right side. “Of course we would like to win, but we think that the Quebec government has complete latitude to decide to give asylum seekers access to daycare no matter what the Court decides. »

In the office of the Minister of Families, Suzanne Roy, we refrain from any comments given that the case is before the courts.

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