The use of personnel placement agencies is exploding in youth centers and group homes in Montreal. Specialized educators and private intervention agents worked more than 185,000 hours there from 1er April 2023 to March 31, 2024, almost two and a half times more than the previous year. Amount of the bill: $11.8 million, we learned The duty. A phenomenon that is taking root elsewhere in Quebec and that the government wants to stop.
Five years ago, specialized educators and intervention agents from private agencies were absent from youth centers and group homes in the metropolis. The CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal called on them in 2020: that year, they worked nearly 2,000 hours in these facilities, according to data obtained following a request for access to information. Since then, the use of independent labor has continued to rise, reaching a peak in 2024.
“There is really a very significant demand for young people to be accommodated under the Youth Protection Act,” explains Jason Champagne, director of the youth program at the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal. We had to open three overflow units, in addition to reconfiguring two other units to accommodate young people. » The shortage of specialized educators being “quite incredible”, it was necessary to call on the private sector to fill these new shifts, he explains.
According to him, these units will remain open “for several more months”, because the pressure is not decreasing. “First, we must make one thing clear: we have an obligation to offer this service,” insists Mr. Champagne. We know that independent labor is expensive, but we have to accommodate our young people. So, there is no question of cutting in that area. »
What will the CIUSSS do then? From October 20, Quebec will prohibit health establishments in Montreal, Laval, Montérégie, Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches from using the services of a personnel placement agency. Other regions will benefit from a longer deadline, which may extend until October 18, 2026.
The CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal responds that it is leading an “offensive” in order to repatriate private sector professionals into the public network. He claims to have hired 255 so far, all types of jobs combined (nurses, practical nurses, etc.). According to Jason Champagne, recruiting educators is “a little bit more difficult”. “There are several who tell us: “We will wait to see if there will actually be a ban on independent labor [au CIUSSS]”, he specifies.
In any case, the CIUSSS tries to “reduce as much as possible” the impact of independent labor on young people, assures Jason Champagne. Agency staff benefit from the same training as new CIUSSS employees, he specifies.
In the region too
The CISSS de la Gaspésie also turns to personnel placement agencies. The independent workforce carried out more than 19,000 hours of work in youth centers between 1er April 2023 and March 31, 2024, for a total cost of approximately $2.5 million. This is eight times more hours than in 2019-2020.
The CISSS de Laval reports having spent $3.1 million between 1er April 2023 and February 24, 2024 for the hiring in youth centers of professionals from the private sector (psychosocial workers, intervention agents, social workers, etc.). They worked approximately 39,000 hours there, compared to 30,000 the previous year.
For the first time last year, the CIUSSS du Saguenay−Lac-Saint-Jean called on agencies for its youth centers. The health establishment indicates having spent $2.9 million for more than 28,000 hours worked between 1er April 2023 and March 31, 2024. He explains that he is facing an increase in needs and “recruitment challenges”.
The president of the Alliance of Professional and Technical Personnel in Health and Social Services (APTS), Robert Comeau, is concerned about the phenomenon. “The young person never has the same worker, or very rarely the same worker, in the medium and long term to help him in his rehabilitation, which means that we become more of a “prison” model, of surveillance of a group of young people, a model where we really come to promote our rehabilitation,” he says. Enough to demotivate the network’s staff who, in this context, “do not really accomplish themselves professionally”, according to him.
Marie-Ève Meilleur, national representative for the Laurentides region at the APTS, recognizes that the agency staff allows them to “relieve” their union members and avoid them having to work compulsory overtime. “But there is no continuity in the files and they do not know the files of young people in particular,” she said. It is all our members who must teach them all the administrative workings and the interventions they must make. »
In the Laurentians, the independent workforce worked more than 100,000 hours in youth centers from 1er April 2022 to March 31, 2023, according to the regional CISSS. The health establishment claims to be working “actively to reduce” its use “in accordance with government directives”.
“It’s not worth it anymore”
In anticipation of this withdrawal, Laurence Morin decided to leave her job as a specialist educator in a private placement agency in November. She was assigned for nearly 10 months to the same unit at the Huberdeau youth rehabilitation center, in the Laurentians. There was no question of it being released to the public. “Working in youth centers is super enriching,” she says. I really liked it, but it’s demanding. These are atypical hours, really difficult working conditions because of the clientele we work with. The CISSS doesn’t really offer the flexibility that I want. »
Agency work also seemed less interesting to him due to the price cap imposed by Quebec (in force since April 14). She lives more than an hour’s drive from Huberdeau. “Because of the pay cut, it’s no longer worth it,” says Laurence Morin. I am given $0 for the gas and they’re going to pay me $12 less an hour. » The 26-year-old young mother, who holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology, found a job as a surveillance officer in the community.
The APTS national representative for the North Shore, Kevin Newbury, fears that the labor shortage will worsen in his region when the use of private agencies is prohibited, starting in October 2026. Currently, our independent workforce rate is 48% in youth centers,” he says. Many agency employees do “ fly-in, fly-out ». “From the moment we wean ourselves off the independent workforce, there is a strong probability that these people will not necessarily stay in the north coastal region and will return to their region of origin. »
Robert Comeau deplores that the government did not agree, during the last negotiations, to improve the working conditions of its members in remote regions, in order to attract and retain staff. “When we have 48% independent workforce on the North Shore, I think we could have opened the coffers a little more to help the CISSS of the North Shore to definitively resolve this problem. »