Robert-Baldwin MNA leads fight in DPJ head resignation
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
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