A “terrible” story. A system that “fails in every way.” Liberal MP Brigitte Garceau doesn’t mince her words as she responds to a La Presse report about a disturbing case involving a child from the DPJ. The official opposition is calling for an investigation into the detention of this 11-year-old girl and criticizing the Legault government for delaying the appointment of a children’s rights commissioner.
Posted at 2:03 p.m.
“We need a watchdog who will be the voice of the children. We are in a situation where children’s rights are being violated. “In Quebec we have to do something to protect our children,” Brigitte Garceau, official opposition spokeswoman for child protection, said in an interview.
In 2021, the Laurent Commission (which arose from the death of the little Granby girl) recommended the creation of a position of Commissioner for the Welfare and Rights of Children. However, the position has not yet been created.
In a report published on Tuesday, La Presse highlighted the case of Ève, a particularly explosive little girl who is being looked after by Child Protection Services. While in DPJ custody, Ève was sexually assaulted by another teenager and ended up in a police cell when she was just 11 years old.
“How many Evas are there in our system? » asks MP Brigitte Garceau.
“If we look at the story of Eva, a girl of 10, 11 years old. We see that the psychological follow-up after a sexual assault that was trivialized and not taken seriously by the DPJ took more than a year. That caught my attention. It is the inaction and the trivialization of the consequences of an act of violence against a young girl,” claims the spokesman for the official opposition.
Last February, Ève was held in a cell at a police station in Saint-Jérôme for 45 minutes after fleeing from her DPJ associates. Police placed him in a cell while waiting for the DPJ to pick him up. A decision that outraged Professor Alain Roy, a reference in children’s law.
“I fully share your feelings,” comments Ms. Garceau. We read that. And we are speechless. Because the situation is terrible. We can’t even imagine it was done that way. Everything she has experienced in the last year is unimaginable. »
According to Ms Garceau, the government should therefore open an investigation to shed light on the detention of this child.
In our case, Eva’s parents say they are distraught by the system and wonder what they should do to have hope of getting their daughters back. They criticize the fact that the DPJ does not offer them any help in this regard. You will only see Eve once a week under supervision.
“These are extremely difficult conditions for resuming the parent-child relationship. Our system must change. Our system must put the interests of children first. “That’s not what we’re doing right now,” the Liberal MP claims.