Adoption of Bill n°99 amending the Youth Protection Act
QUEBEC CITY, October 4, 2017 – Today the National Assembly unanimously adopted Bill no99: An Act to amend the Youth Protection Act and other provisions. It will ensure better protection for young people and promote continuity of care and stability for all children in Quebec. Ms. Lucie Charlebois, Minister for Rehabilitation, Youth Protection, Public Health and Healthy Living, applauded its adoption today in the National Assembly in the company of Mr. Geoffrey Kelley, Minister responsible for Native Affairs, and Mr. Guy Bourgeois, Member for Abitibi-Est. They were also accompanied by Ms. Geneviève Rioux, President of the Fédération des familles d’accueil et des ressources intermédiaires du Québec, Mr. Ghislain Picard, Leader of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, Mr. David Boivin, a representative of the Atikamekw community, and Mr. Denis Baraby, Director of Youth Protection at the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux des Laurentides.
In particular, the new Act:
- promotes the active participation of parents and their child in decision-making and in the choice of measures that concern them;
- establishes the participation of foster families and significant persons in the judicial and decision-making processes relative to the children that are entrusted to them;
- provides for better preservation of Native children’s cultural identity;
- provides for new rules relating to accommodation in rehabilitation centres, in particular to better respond to the needs of young people at risk of running away and who place themselves in dangerous situations;
- establishes better protection of victims of educational neglect, especially in connection with the obligation to attend school;
- defines the situations leading to the immediate suspension of a person responsible for a home daycare service;
- facilitates the sharing of information deemed necessary to ensure the protection of a child;
- and facilitates access to justice, in particular by encouraging the greater use of technological means.
Quotes:
We were committed to modernizing the Youth Protection Act, because we are all concerned and compelled when it comes to ensuring the proper development of children in Quebec, and more particularly the most vulnerable ones. By improving the Act, we will be able to ensure better protection for young people, increase their stability and improve their living situations. Today, we are giving ourselves the means to better intervene with them and their families by having, as our sole objective, the constant improvement and enhancement of their safety and well-being.
– Lucie Charlebois, Minister for Rehabilitation, Youth Protection, Public Health and Healthy Living
With these new legislative provisions, we are giving ourselves the means to better respond to the needs of young people and the families they are entrusted to. The new legislative measures enable us to further prevent abuse situations. In addition, access to justice will be facilitated through the better use of technological means for the greater benefit of families.
– Stéphanie Vallée, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Quebec
We made certain that the new measures adopted take greater account of Native children’s cultural identity, in particular by ensuring that they be entrusted to foster families in their own communities. In this way, we encourage their development and give them greater stability by considering their cultural realities. The next generations will benefit from the transmission of their community values.
– Geoffrey Kelley, Minister responsible for Native Affairs
Highlights:
The bill, which was tabled on June 3, 2016, proposed a number of legislative changes to improve the Youth Protection Act. Specific consultations were held during the fall of 2016, during which 22 groups were heard. A series of amendments were subsequently tabled last June in order to improve the bill, including a detailed study concluded on September 20.
To learn more about Liberal governments’ actions for youth, consult our major topic on education.
