MONTREAL -- Young Inuit placed in youth centres in the south of Quebec had their cultural and schooling rights violated, according to a new report.

These children and teenagers with adjustment problems were uprooted from their community and accommodated in Montreal for lack of services in Nunavik.

However, the centres where they were placed didn't adequately ensure that they would preserve their language and culture, or even their education.

That was the conclusion of an investigation conducted by the body that oversees youth protection in Quebec, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ). It was looking at units of the West Island CIUSSS and others under the umbrella of the Ungava Tulattavik Health Centre in Dorval.

The commission explained that it decided to investigate after a media report that young Indigenous people were not able to speak their own language in rehabilitation units.

Along the way, it decided to broaden the investigation beyond the right to speak Inuktitut when the investigators discovered shortcomings in their broader education.

Several cohorts of young Inuit housed by youth protection services haven't been educated for a span of at least ten years, the report said.

Some have instead received non-qualifying tutoring services granted sporadically by a private agency, but there is no data on the proportion of young people concerned, according to the report, released Wednesday.

This situation, which the CDPDJ describes as "chronic," is linked to the cumbersome administrative procedures required to allow the children to learn in a language they have mastered.

In fact, Inuit children can study in English in Nunavik, but they must obtain authorization from the Minister of Education to continue in the same language outside their community.

The CDPDJ underlined the lack of initiative taken by the ministry, school boards and directors of youth protection in the face of this red tape surrounding the young people's eligibility for schooling in English.

The vice-president responsible for the youth mandate of the CDPDJ, Suzanne Arpin, sent a letter to the minister responsible for the French language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, inviting him to review Bill 101 accordingly.

The minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

In a statement sent later Wednesday, other ministers involved in the file said they welcomed the commission's recommendations with regard to schooling.

The situation is "intolerable" and will be resolved "quickly and permanently," said a press release signed jointly by the Minister for Health and Social Services, Lionel Carmant, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, and the Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Ian Lafrenière.

CUT OFF FROM THEIR LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

However, the youth rights' commissions didn't stop at access to schooling.

They aligned with calls to action already launched by the Viens Commission, whose report on relations between Indigenous people and certain Quebec public services was tabled more than a year and a half ago.

As for the right to speak Inuktitut freely, the CDPDJ observed that there were monitoring practices that could make young people feel limited to communicating in English among themselves, even in the absence of formal rules to this effect.

Others found themselves without anyone to talk to in Inuktitut in their unit.

The CDPDJ is advocating for more regular contact with their families, both through technological means and visits to their community. 

According to the commission, language and cultural barriers affect workers' ability to offer adapted services. Interpreter services are required, it said, and young people should have a voice in the programming of activities in their unit.

It said one necessity is to create a cultural security action plan in collaboration with Indigenous communities.

Finally, the commission recommended the creation of an autonomous rehabilitation system in Nunavik in order to avoid the young people living so remotely in the first place. That idea is already part of the plans of the Regional Board of Health and Social Services.

Watch the video above for CTV's television report.

 This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2021.