Quebec puts youth protection office branch under trusteeship after shocking report

Quebec Junior Health and Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant responds to reporters questions at the legislature in Quebec City on May 1, 2019. (Jacques Boissinot, The Canadian Press)

The Quebec government has put a branch of the province's youth protection office under trusteeship following a report that alleges the rights of dozens of children have been violated.

La Presse reported this morning on an internal document from Quebec's human rights commission, which found that the youth protection office serving central Quebec and the Mauricie region is removing children from their parents too quickly.

The document cited government statistics showing that the area covered by the branch, which includes the cities of Trois-Rivieres and Drummondville, puts three times more children up for adoption than do more populous parts of the province.

Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant says the situation is "intolerable" and that parents must be supported instead of separated from their children.

According to La Presse, the internal document shows that parents who grew up in Quebec's youth protection system sometimes have their babies taken from them without being given a chance to prove themselves.

The commission reported that many children in the area were put up for adoption without all the legal criteria having been met.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 9, 2024.