Catherine Lemay

Robert-Baldwin MNA leads fight in DPJ head resignation

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

The Director of Youth Protection (DPJ) Catherine Lemay resigned following reports of sexual abuse allegations by educators towards detainees at a juvenile detention and rehabilitation facility. Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant appointed former Laurent Commission member Lesley Hill as her replacement.

Robert-Baldwin MNA Brigitte Garceau, the official opposition critic on Youth Protection, had led the fight for Lemay’s resignation. She says she hopes Hill, also an assistant deputy minister because of the position, will have the independence she needs to make the necessary reforms.

The Liberal House Leader, Nelligan MNA Monsef Derraji, asked for an emergency debate on the DPJ after Lemay’s resignation. National Assembly Speaker Nathalie Roy — a CAQ MNA — granted it. It was the first emergency debate granted in four years, underlining the importance of the issue.

Garceau openly questions Carmant’s ability and fortitude to making the necessary changes to respond to the dire need for a “system clean up”.

The position of Commissioner for Children’s Welfare and Rights created by Bill 37, remains vacant since its inception last May. “Ultimately, once you’re in your seventh year of governance, if it hasn’t changed at the DPJ level, (then) it is the responsibility (that falls) on the government and the minister,” Parti Québécois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon stated at a news conference.

According to the report, nine female employees formerly employed at the Cité-des-Prairies centre allegedly had sexual relations with five minor detainees. It is also alleged that one of the employees had a baby with a detainee.

The facility is one of the last resorts for teens with limited or no other recourse towards rehabilitation, prior to reaching adulthood. Some of the detainees are awaiting transfer to prison for adults once they reach the age of majority. Some of the province’s most severe cases of juvenile misconduct, convicted criminals and teens in last resort situations reside at this facility.

Garceau has issued criticisms regularly about the failures of the youth protection system since being elected. She has demanded immediate attention to the problematic issues and particularly the in-house culture of protecting the system to the detriment of children’s rights. Garceau says she will carry on after the Lemay resignation until real resolutions are not only established but implemented in the system. n

Robert-Baldwin MNA leads fight in DPJ head resignation Read More »

Robert-Baldwin MNA says “youth protection system protects itself, not children’s rights”

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Chelsey St-Pierre
The Suburban

Brigitte Garceau, Liberal MNA for Robert-Baldwin and official opposition critic for youth protection, says the sense of urgency to repair the broad array of youth protection system failures by Minister Lionel Carmant and Deputy Minister and National Director of Youth Protection Catherine Lemay is virtually non-existent.

Garceau’s view is shared by journalist and author of two books on youth protection, Nancy Audet, who recently additionally denounced the fact that 20% of the establishments that house children under youth protection in the province are dilapidated. “Nobody should be living in establishments like Mont St-Antoine which are totally uninhabitable, and it is also reprehensible that any establishment have isolation cells as was recently discovered at the Cartier facility in Laval,”Garceau said.

Garceau has hammered home the fundamental issue of mothers losing custody of their children to violent fathers due to inadequate training of social workers in conjugal violence cases where social workers mistakenly and unilaterally accuse mothers of parental alienation. She has asked Minister Lionel Carmant to launch an investigation. “There was a motion that the government did not support. It is obvious that this issue is not a priority to the Minister nor to the government.”

In 2016, nearly 52% of reports to the Department of Youth Protection concerned children exposed to conjugal violence. Following the Laurent Commission report, Regine Laurent stated to media that parental alienation findings by unqualified social workers and other matters related to conjugal violence was the subject, by far, that generated the greatest number of calls and emails to the Commission.

Garceau told The Suburban that,”I don’t understand the logic of maintaining a dysfunctional ‘status quo’. The efforts are placed on protecting the system instead of protecting the rights of the children. One of the main recommendation’s of The Laurent Commission was the creation of an independent Commissioner for the Welfare and Rights of Children. The government in its proposed Bill 37 has failed to integrate all of those powers and responsibilities recommended into the position of the Commissioner. This call for change is fundamental and necessary if we are to reform the system so that it is fully accountable. It is imperative that a commissioner has the ability to investigate and to intervene with watchdog powers. The DPJ must be under supervision and held accountable and exercise its duties with full transparency.”

Almost three years after she was appointed, Lemay was quoted defending youth protection and her mandate saying, “The attacks on youth protection certainly affect me. It is an essential sector for our society. When things are bad, I tell myself that I am in the right place to make changes.”

Garceau insists that it is high time to see some concrete action, investigation and reform. n

Robert-Baldwin MNA says “youth protection system protects itself, not children’s rights” Read More »

Scroll to Top