Children

Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – The number of reports received and those retained by the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) in Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine declined in 2024-2025 according to a document presented on June 19.

The number of reports retained fell from 678 in 2023-2024 to 519 in 2024-2025. The theme of the latest annual report is “Protecting children collectively.”

“It’s really about how, beyond a report, we can protect children. Every action is an important action for children, and as a DPJ, we really wanted to mention that DPJs alone can’t protect Quebec’s children,” explains Michelle Frenette, Director of Youth Protection and Provincial Director for Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

Without denying that in recent years, the DPJ has experienced some bad press, Ms. Frenette maintains that every day, every member of her department offers the best.

“We must always strive for improvement, and that’s what we wanted to demonstrate in this strong message of wanting to succeed in order to do better for Quebec’s children,” continues the director.
Although the number of reports is down 11% this year, the long-term trend over the past decade remains upward.

“What’s interesting for us is the decrease in the number of assessments and retentions,” says the director. The decline rate is 24%.

A number of measures may have helped reduce the number of cases.

“For the past two years, we’ve been implementing a field verification program. These are interveners who can make a few small interventions as soon as a case is reported. Sometimes, we can deploy an intervener who will do one or two small meetings with families and link up with other services, which can make a difference in the region,” explains Ms. Frenette.

A great deal of awareness-raising is done on the front line, notably involving schools and a community committed to its children.

By MRC territory, the number of reports accepted dropped significantly in the Côte-de-Gaspé (from 146 to 78), Avignon (from 110 to 56) and Gesgapegiag (from 33 to 14).

In the other MRCs and Listuguj, the data remain stable.

“It’s hard to explain year-on-year decreases or increases. Sometimes, it’s due to more team awareness, or events in the MRCs. Sometimes, it’s more complete teams on the front line or at school level, where there are more interventions,” says the director.

Urgent and semi-urgent cases are responded to immediately. For less urgent cases, response times have been reduced from 20 days to 14 days.

“We’re mostly within our response times. We have less than 20 children on our waiting list, and they’re on schedule. This is excellent news for our region. We’re trying to keep the number of children on the waiting list to a minimum, with a firm enough rhythm to provide services on time,” says Ms. Frenette.

Neglect remains the leading reason for referrals at 33%, followed by psychological abuse at 26%. These proportions have remained fairly stable year over year.

Under the Young Offenders Act, a decrease of six interventions was noted, from 121 to 115 cases. Of those involved, 98% of young people followed their sanctions.

“The three main offences are assault, breach of probation and theft. Sometimes mischief. We want to work with teenagers as teenagers. We want to work on accountability, rehabilitation and reintegration. Recidivism rates are very low,” explains the director.

In recent years, a number of vacancies have arisen, putting pressure on the staff who remain in the field.

“When it comes to reporting, assessment and orientation, our team is almost complete. We still have some good news on that front. We still face challenges in applying measures, particularly in the Bay of Chaleurs and Haute-Gaspésie, where we have a little more difficulty following up on families,” she explains.

Finding bilingual workers to serve English-speaking families in the Bay of Chaleurs remains a challenge.

While other parts of the healthcare system have faced budget cuts, the DPJ has so far been spared.
“Everyone will have to look at efficiency. We’re managing public funds and we have to be constantly improving. Now, we have to make sure we sit down together, and that’s where the decisions will have an impact, and as DPJ, it’s clear that the interests of the children will be the first thing we bring to the table, to avoid having a direct impact on their safety, their development and the services offered,” calculates Ms. Frenette.