While attending a recent conference in Sherbrooke, Quebec, I had the opportunity to offer a very brief history of children’s rights law in Quebec since the May 2021 final report of the province’s Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection ("Laurent Commission"). The Laurent Commission made 63 ‘recommendACTIONS’ that talk about children’s rights, Indigenous children, prevention services from pregnancy to adulthood, youth protection, judicial proceedings, a family for life, rehabilitation centres, transition to adult life, social workers’ conditions of practice, leadership, and funding.
After the report, the legislature in 2002 responded with amendments to the Youth Protection Act (Bill 15, 2022, c 11), Educational Childcare Act (Bill 1, 2022, c 19), and Civil Code of Quebec (Bill 2, 2022, c 22). In that same year, Quebec created a national student ombudsman to investigate complaints about school service centres and school boards (Bill 9, 2022, c 17). This new body was created following a 2017 report by Quebec’s ombudsman, the Protecteur du citoyen, that was critical of school-related complaint processes in the province. Later, in 2024, Quebec’s National Assembly enacted legislation creating an independent Commissioner for Children’s Welfare and Rights (Bill 37, 2024, c 20), fulfilling another of the Laurent Commission’s recommendations. Quebec’s first Commissioner for Children’s Welfare and Rights, Marie-Ève Brunet-Kitchen, will take office on May 12, 2025.
The Laurent Commission’s work is referenced in doctrinal texts and numerous judicial decisions, both during the inquiry and after the publication of the final report. In 2020, Quebec’s Youth Division referred several cases for consideration by the Commission as it prepared its report. Explicit mentions of the final report were made in matters of judicial discipline and of services for First Nations, Inuit & Métis children, and the report was used as an interpretive aid in matters of encroachment of children’s rights by child protection authorities, conjugal violence, the Youth Protection Act preamble, Indigenous children, interpretations of best interests, and even labour disputes.
The Supreme Court of Canada has even had occasion to refer to the Laurent Commission’s report in Quebec (Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse) v Directrice de la protection de la jeunesse du CISSS A, 2024 SCC 43. The Court tackled the question of the scope of corrective powers conferred on the Youth Division of the Court of Québec in cases of encroachment upon child’s rights by section 92 paragraph 4 of the Youth Protection Act, which states “Where the tribunal concludes that the rights of a child in difficulty have been wronged by persons, bodies or institutions, it may order the situation to be corrected.” The Court cited the Laurent Commission report when noting that the proper functioning of the youth protection system depends on the actions of a range of political, social and legal actors that have been given roles, responsibilities and powers that are both distinct and complementary. Applying the rules of statutory interpretation, the Court ultimately found that the order at issue fell outside the authority of the Youth Division. The Court found that the reform of Quebec’s Youth Protection Act did not extent courts’ remedial jurisdiction beyond rendering justice in an individualized and particularized manner, meaning the Youth Division could not order systemic corrective measures for the benefit of children whose situations have not been referred to it.
Despite setbacks and continued room for improvement in children’s rights law in Quebec, there are signs that the Laurent’s Commission’s ‘social project’ for children’s wellbeing could very slowly be paving the way toward a ‘Quebec worthy of its children’. Professionals and policymakers working in Ontario and across Canada might find inspiration from these recent attempts at advancing children’s rights in matters of provincial jurisdiction.
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