(Quebec) One new case every two weeks. In Quebec, the frequency of reports of sexual abuse of children entrusted to day care has increased, according to documents obtained by The Canadian Press from the Department of Family Affairs.
Posted at 10:44 am
Jocelyne Richer The Canadian Press
Therefore, over the past decade, we can say that, according to the data collected, nearly 300 helpless children aged zero to five years at a daycare center in Quebec have been the subject of a report or complaint of a sexual nature. And possibly abused there.
Behind these numbers are vulnerable children who have slipped through the safety net put in place to protect them, particularly in the home environment where most reports occur.
The phenomenon seems stable, neither increasing nor decreasing, with an average of almost thirty cases per year.
Some questions remain unanswered: How were all these reports followed up? What percentage of them were founded? How many child care workers (RSG) have lost their jobs and ended up behind bars? How many daycare centers have had to close their doors because of sexual assaults within their walls?
No one in government has seen fit to collect all the information, from the filing of the report to the closing of the dossier. All the actors involved, and there are many of them, work in silos and treat every reported case with the strictest confidentiality.
” The Ministry [de la Famille] does not contain information on the status of complaints and reports,” stated the person in charge of access to information in this ministry in response to these questions.
After examining the question in 2017, the Ministry of Health, which reports to the Directorate for the Protection of Minors (DPJ), “concluded that it was impossible to reconcile the data,” the Ministry of Health said in an email exchange.
Nobody in the government wanted to comment on the matter. Family Minister Mathieu Lacombe declined a request for an interview. Minister responsible for the DPJ, Lionel Carmant, also declined, as did national youth protection director Catherine Lemay.
Of the total number of people reported, two out of three (65%) worked in a day-care center at home. It is often the manager’s spouse or one of their children, teenagers or young adults.
The managers of these daycares are not above suspicion: during the decade there were 15 childcare providers at home and 6 licensing managers who have been linked to reports of sexual abuse. In other cases, they are employees (educators, caretakers, cooks, etc.).
The nature of the alleged acts is not documented. For example, in the case of a challenge to a closure, one has to be content with trial reports or judgments from the Administrative Court of Quebec (TAQ).
We could multiply the examples that have emerged in recent years, one dirtier than the next, like the little girl who confided in her parents that a gentleman from daycare had asked her to lick his finger between her legs or the Case of This educator was caught using the children’s nap time to attack two little girls.
Variable geometry
As soon as a message is received, a mechanism is set in motion. All actors involved (Coordination Offices for Home Childcare, DYP, Police, etc.) have to apply the government’s “Multisectoral Agreement”, a document that describes the intervention procedure and the respective obligations.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
But the problem is that this agreement is being applied “with variable geometry,” deplores Geneviève Bélisle, director-general of the Quebec Association of Early Childhood Centers (AQCPE), the organization that oversees and oversees the coordination offices. .
The exchange of information between the different stakeholders, which is “encouraged but not compulsory”, also takes place “with variable geometry”, especially if the report is not kept, adds Ms. Bélisle. This leads to a “fuzziness” in the application of the protocol.
The Laurent report, written after the tragic death of the martyred Granby girl in 2019, noted the “poor communication between the partners” responsible for implementing the agreement, an objective it described as “difficult”. became.
In an interview, Ms Bélisle also stressed the importance of better training home childcare workers to regularly remind them of their duties in the event of a report, which she believes is a major shortcoming. “We can really do better and really more,” she says, and advocates compulsory annual training.
Tighter surveillance could also prove useful. The coordination centers only visit the family day-care centers three times a year.
In its flowery language, the Ministry of Health assures: “The monitoring of the application of the multisectoral agreement provides for monitoring mechanisms at both national and regional levels to escalate challenges and needs and deal with partners.”
Ms Bélisle believes that “the safety net” has been weakened with Bill 15 sponsored by Minister Carmant. As an example, she cites the fact that in the past a person who wanted to become a childminder had to provide a certificate of physical and mental health. This is no longer the case. The period for renewing permits has been reduced from three to five years.
Disability: 70% of review requests were accepted
The situation in family day-care centers raises the problem of the state’s recruitment of those responsible for these services and the criteria adopted to ensure that they pose no risk to the health or safety of children.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
Recruitment itself is a major problem in times of labor shortages, which could prompt the government to lower the criteria for providing parental places. It is estimated that 23,000 places for children in foster care are currently available and remain vacant because no one can be found.
In the area of unregulated childcare, in particular, some are urging the government to relax the rules.
Anyone interested in opening a day-care center must prove that there are no “hurdles” against caring for small children. The security clearance is issued by a police authority to the responsible person, people residing at the same address and their employees.
Except that the person with a ‘disability’ can contest the decision. Since 2018, the Department has received 540 requests for review and the vast majority of individuals, 380 (70%), have been successful.
An “obstacle” can be a criminal offense or a felony, but not necessarily a serious or sexual offence, the ministry specifies in an email exchange.
“It could be a youth mistake [ex : vol de voiture à 18 ans]lack of judgement [ex : conduite avec les facultés affaiblies] or even a more difficult moment in life [ex : vol à l’étalage] “, the Ministry of Family justifies the decision in several cases to pass the sponge on the identified obstacles.
Regarding the current form of impedance research, “we consider the procedure to be appropriate,” the Ministry of Health said.