The beige room is tiny and bare; a concrete bed frame as the only piece of furniture. Not one, but two consecutive steel doors allow a child to be locked in.
Posted at 5:00 am.
The second door makes a loud noise when closing; identical in every way to the door of an old prison cell. The walls are covered in graffiti scrawled in pencil. Many praise the local street gangs.
For almost a year, children with “disruptive behavior” who are housed in the youth protection department of the Cartier Youth Center in Laval have been housed “in seclusion” here. Some of them are only 9 years old, two sources told La Presse.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
One of two steel doors leading to the “cell”.
The mistake they are accused of can be as trivial as restlessness during the scheduled quiet hour in their room after dinner. Or even “don’t want” them to eat their meal, according to the president of the Laval workers’ union, Nathalie Bourque. “To prevent you from disturbing the other young people, we put you in the background,” she said.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Nathalie Bourque, president of the Laval workers' union
“We put them in cages,” complains one of the sources who alerted us, who cannot be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media. “We’re going to make monsters out of it,” this source continues.
A center that is overcrowded
Typically, at the Cartier Youth Center, children who are “pulled out” of their unit for disruptive behavior are sent to the La Source calming unit, where staff help them calm down. It is said that the withdrawal rooms there are equipped with a mattress and a desk.
However, the La Source unit also serves as a residential unit in the event of overload. And requests for accommodation in Laval have been increasing for almost a year. Young people who need to be placed in youth centers come from families that have several “developmentally unfavorable characteristics,” such as violence and abuse, drug addiction problems, a criminal culture or poor supervision, among others.
INFOGRAPHICS THE PRESS
Occupancy of the Cartier Youth Center
In 2023, the 12 rooms of the La Source unit were almost always occupied. The average occupancy there was 116% in 2023 compared to 57% in 2022. The result: Children who need to be withdrawn are housed in tiny isolation rooms that resemble prison cells. The door remains open. A loudspeaker is nearby. But they have almost nothing to occupy themselves with, says Ms. Bourque.
These children are already torn apart. Many don't understand why they are there. And that's how we treat them.
Nathalie Bourque, president of the Laval workers' union
These rooms – there are three next to each other – are “isolation rooms” usually reserved for young people in times of crisis. A strict protocol governs their use. To be isolated there with the door closed, a young person must pose a danger to themselves or others or pose a risk of escape or escape.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Courtyard of the Cartier Youth Center
However, “tired children” are accommodated there, our sources confirm. If all three rooms are occupied – and that is common – a 17-year-old can lie next to a 9-year-old, they say. Our sources add that it has already happened that an angry teenager started insulting and threatening the child in the next room.
“You have a teenager who is 6 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds next to a 9-year-old who weighs 50 pounds, and the teenager is screaming at him, 'Close your eyes, I'll break your eye, my Tabarnak ',” he describes one of our sources. It is unhealthy. »
“There is no rehabilitation there. […] There is no justification for using these spaces [pour un retrait] “, says Pierre-Luc Carrier, president of APTS Laval, a union that particularly represents educators in youth centers.
In an interview with La Presse, the Laval Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) confirms that it uses isolation rooms to isolate children. We recognize that this is not ideal. However, we ensure that a carer is present with the child at all times and that the aim is to keep the length of stay as short as possible.
Annie Dion, deputy director of the youth program at CISSS de Laval, stresses that the facilities at the Cartier Youth Center are “outdated.” “If we had another building, we obviously wouldn’t use these spaces. The premises are outdated [et ne sont] actually not tailored to the clientele being accommodated,” she says.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The Cartier Youth Center in Laval
Built in 1971 to house young offenders, the Cartier Youth Center “is a very prison-like two-story building,” Ms. Dion recognizes. In 2021, the CISSS de Laval also submitted a plan to renew its facilities to the Ministry of Health and Social Services (see other text).
Empty unit in the “safe sector”
There is now great unease among several employees of the Cartier youth center, confirms the union leader Ms. Bourque, who represents in particular the intervention agents of the CISSS de Laval.
Our members are affected by this. It is not normal.
Nathalie Bourque, president of the Laval workers' union
Ms. Bourque does not understand why children are sent to these isolation rooms while one unit at the Cartier Youth Center is completely empty. This was completely renovated in 2023 to accommodate the Le Jardin unit, intended for customers with severe disabilities. This unit was urgently closed last December after a police investigation into ill-treatment was launched.
Read the article “New allegations of abuse at a center in Laval”
The Le Jardin unit is located in the “safe sector” of the Cartier Youth Center. Where young criminals in particular hang out. The CISSS de Laval therefore does not want to send young people there under child protection, explains Ms. Dion. According to Mr. Carrier from APTS Laval, the use of isolation rooms instead of the withdrawal unit should be “temporary.” “But that’s not it at all,” he complains.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Two successive steel doors allow a child to be locked in the rooms, whose only furnishings are a concrete bed frame.
Delphine Collin-Vézina, Professor at the School of Social Work and Associate Member of the Department of Pediatrics at McGill University, believes that the situation described by our sources does not reflect “good practice” and is “worrying”. However, she doesn't want to throw stones at them. “We can have well-meaning managers and stakeholders but working in run-down places that are not designed to enable good practice,” she adds. At some point, we as a society must take a stand and recognize that this is an unacceptable living environment for children who have the greatest needs. »
“If I set up a room like this in my basement to lock my children in when they are bored,” concludes one of our sources, “we would call the DPJ and I would end up in prison.” »