One year after the conclusion of the Laurent commission on the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ), Quebec estimates that it has “launched” two-thirds of the recommendations that emerged from it, in addition to having “completed” eleven of them. . The Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, can hardly imagine having to stretch the implementation of his reform beyond a second CAQ term.
“I’ve said it and said it again: this report will not be shelved,” said the minister responsible for youth protection in an interview with The duty.
Twelve months ago, former trade unionist and nurse Régine Laurent released a voluminous 552-page report to put an end to the work of the Special Commission on Children’s Rights and Youth Protection. “We must go from denial in which we have taken refuge for too long to admit that we have not taken sufficient means”, she indicated on May 3, 2021, after a two-year long project.
In Quebec, it is Minister Carmant who has been entrusted with the responsibility of following the 65 “recommendActions” disseminated in the Laurent report. Today, the machine is in motion, he launches from his office perched in the heights of the main building of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, in Quebec.
“There are eleven that we can consider as completed,” assesses the elected representative of the Coalition avenir Québec. The creation of a post of national director of youth protection is one of them. Drafting a bill to enshrine in law the primacy of children’s rights is another.
“That is what is most significant. Within a year [après le dépôt] of the report, we tabled a bill and had it adopted,” underlines Mr. Carmant.
“The interest of the child”
On April 26, Lieutenant-Governor Michel Doyon affixed his signature to the bottom of Bill 15 “amending the Youth Protection Act [LPJ] and other legislative provisions” and confirmed its immediate entry into force, approximately five months after the introduction of the legislative text. The new law states that “the interest of the child is the primary consideration in any decision made about him”.
This modification to the preamble of the YPA is far from trivial, says Minister Carmant. “Everyone interpreted the law in their own way,” he notes. [Maintenant], from the intervener to the judge, everything will be decided for the well-being of the child. »
In her report, Régine Laurent rightly invites the legislator to “put the interest of the child […] in the foreground”. ” I believe that [Mme Laurent] is happy with the way things are progressing, ”says Mr. Carmant, who says he spoke to the President of the Commission a few weeks ago.
The sixty hours of study of the bill will not have been easy for parliamentarians. By rejecting at the beginning of April an amendment on the time limits for placement among Aboriginals – which would have made it possible to fulfill another “recommendAction” – the Minister for Health and Social Services has drawn the wrath of groups opposition and the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador.
“We are losing hope,” said the Indigenous rights organization in the wake of the decision. “We would like to further erode the confidence of the Aboriginal nations that we would not act otherwise,” added Parti Québécois MP Véronique Hivon.
A month after the event, Lionel Carmant wishes to reach out to the Aboriginal nations. “I am hopeful that we will be able to find solutions. This article, we could not agree on it, but we found, I hope, other paths that will allow us to adapt to the Aboriginal reality,” he said in an interview.
Always long lists
By adopting his Bill 15, the Minister considers that he has passed a first milestone. The work to be done remains colossal, he underlines. On the ground, the lists of young people awaiting services from the DPJ stagnated at 4,249.
“For the last year, we still had an increase of about 10% in the number of reports compared to the previous year. Which is a lot, ”says Mr. Carmant, according to whom the pandemic is still having effects at the DPJ.
Training the workers so that they can apply the new Youth Protection Act should help relieve the network, says the national director of youth protection, Catherine Lemay. “Within a year, we should have trained everyone,” she predicts in an interview.
Quebec also believes that it has come close to its objective by concluding new agreements with the main youth protection unions. “Since our first budget, we have filled 2,500 positions. The challenge is that we still have vacancies at the DPJ, around 800,” observes Minister Carmant.
A few months before the elections, Lionel Carmant still has the reform of the DPJ at heart. “I want to continue, and I have the support of my prime minister, too,” said the elected representative of Taillon, who will stand for the fall election. Insofar as his government is re-elected, he intends to complete his reform very quickly.
” [Mme Laurent] gave us between six and ten years, he says. I really see “six years” more than “ten years”. »