After series of scandals, Quebec’s new youth protection boss promising transparency

QUÉBEC — The new director of Quebec’s youth protection system promised on Thursday to shed light on what’s ailing the troubled network and to provide more transparency.

“We’re going to have to turn on a big light in our house, in all the closets, in all the rooms,” Lesley Hill told reporters in Quebec City. “We might find cobwebs and we’re going to have to clean them.”

Hill, who worked in various roles in the health system for decades, came out of retirement to take the position after a series of scandals cost Catherine Lemay, the previous director, her job earlier this week.

“I’m coming back to make a difference for the young people,” Hill said, adding that since her retirement she has continued to work with some of the youth who have left the system. “I just love kids, I care about them deeply and I care about having public systems that give them the right services.”

In addition to overseeing the agency, she will also hold a deputy minister role reporting to Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant, but she said that won’t affect her independence.

Hill is promising to serve as a watchdog for youth in the system, and she said she has nothing to lose by being outspoken: “I’m not going to start blasting the government on the public scene, but I won’t stop being vocal for children.”

While Hill admits she doesn’t have all the answers, one of the first things she plans to do is encourage employees to raise the alarm about any intolerable situations they witness.

Hill also refused to draw a line between the rise in youth protection cases and a surge in the number of temporary immigrants in the province, as both Premier François Legault and Carmant did earlier this week. On Thursday, Carmant admitted the government has no data on the number of immigrants who are in the youth protection system, only anecdotes from different regions.

Hill said there shouldn’t be a “direct link” made with immigration and an overtaxed system.

“But what I would say, on the other hand, is that there are clearly populations that are overrepresented in youth protection,” Hill said. “It’s been going on for years — when we look at Black and Indigenous children.”

The Coalition Avenir Québec government has been in turmoil since a story emerged last week that nine educators at a Montreal youth detention facility were suspended or fired after they allegedly had sexual contact with five minors.

A youth protection agency in central Quebec was placed under trusteeship in October after it was accused of taking children away too quickly from their parents.

Carmant has been under heavy fire from opposition parties as the scandals multiplied. After the Opposition Liberals called for him to lose his job, Québec solidaire also called for Carmant to resign on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2024.

The Canadian Press