“Beyond all belief” A Quebec judge castigates youth protection following the treatment reserved for a teenager from the North

WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.

Quebec's youth protection services are being criticized for failing to ensure the safety of a teenager from the north of the province suspected of being the target of gangs and child sex trafficking.

Allegations of sexual abuse and threats against the 16-year-old's life took place while he was in rehabilitation centers in the south, from which he fled several times.

In a May 9 decision, Quebec Court judge Peggy Warolin said the provincial youth protection ministry did not intervene when these complaints were made and kept the young people in custody. rehab centers for too long, when there was little to no evidence that being in the center was a good thing. help him.

“Can we imagine anything worse than a teenager who repeatedly runs away from an intensive supervision unit only to find himself the victim of a prostitution and drug trafficking ring?” she wrote in French.

The teenager, who cannot be identified due to youth protection laws, had repeatedly said that he wanted to return to live in his community and develop his ties with his parents, brothers and sisters.

The judge ruled that the teenager's rights under the Youth Protection Act and the Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families had been infringed by the center of child and youth protection in the province.

The director of youth protective services says he didn't learn of the sexual abuse allegations until August 9, 2023, six months after a detective first reported them. (Radio-Canada)

The teenager was taken from his separated parents in northern Quebec when he was two years old.

After that, he was moved to different foster homes – and at one point with his grandparents. But most of these stays were short-lived.

The child demonstrated aggression, suicidal ideation, and struggled with substance use. On several occasions, he refused to take his ADHD medication, the decision states.

He began his numerous stays in rehabilitation centers from April 2017.

Rehabilitation centers are not working

In January, a child psychiatrist concluded that the living environment of a rehabilitation center was not working for the teen and that he would be safer closer to his home community.

However, when it came to his family, the department was hesitant, due to the level of close supervision needed and the youth's tendency to run away.

Warolin castigated the youth protection services for not having had the courage to “deviate from the reference manuals” and follow the advice of professionals.

From October 2020 to May 2024, the judge said the stay in a rehabilitation center only stabilized his condition and brought little change.

“So, as the saying goes, by applying the same recipe with the same ingredients, you should not expect a different result,” she said.

During his subsequent escapes, the boy was allegedly involved in a gang and child sex trafficking.

During a visit to his parents, the teenager revealed that he was mistreated in his foster family at the time and that he had been the victim of sexual abuse.

At the end of 2022, youth protection services discovered that the teenager was part of a street gang. Seeing him back in a rehabilitation center, apparently in good health, they assumed he had received support during his escape from the center. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)

Communication breakdown within the department

Detective Julie Hobbs met the teenager during a sexual abuse investigation that is still ongoing.

She made a statement to police on February 9, 2023 about the abuse. Hobbs said she immediately contacted Youth Protection through multiple channels, including their 1-800 number.

But the director of Youth Protection said he only became aware of it six months later, in August.

An email submitted to the court says: “We are more than surprised to read the facts stated in your email regarding prostitution and death threats, given that no member of our team was informed of this important information.”

Warolin said “such a report, according to which a teenage girl was directly or indirectly linked to a prostitution ring and that it came from none other than a detective specializing in sexual crimes, would be untraceable, unimaginable.”

She ordered that the decision be transmitted to Philippe-André Tessier, president of the Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights.

Philippe-André Tessier is president of the Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights. The Quebec Human Rights and Youth Commission published a report in May 2024 according to which Inuit families were not receiving the social and youth protection services to which they were entitled. (Submitted by the Commission on Human Rights and Youth Rights)

In an interview with CBC, Tessier said he was not surprised to hear of such problems with the department.

“There is a lack of training as to what the DYP should do when informed of a situation,” he said.

Even then, Warolin said there were a multitude of clues, as early as 2022, about the child's involvement in gangs.

“It is inconceivable that no intervention has been made before.”

In an email to CBC, a ministry spokesperson said it could not discuss specific cases and was required to protect the teen's privacy.

The spokesperson indicated that the ministry has been working “for several years to improve the services offered to indigenous children, particularly those from Nunavik, and their families, in order to promote cultural continuity and increased community participation.”

Home is where it should be

Warolin issued several orders in his decision, including that the department review its communications and training programs and determine why no recording was made of the call Hobbs made to the 1-800 number.

She also ordered that the youth be returned to his family.

“It’s not just about returning home. It’s also about being able to evolve in your environment, in your culture, in your traditions and in your heritage,” she said.

Tessier said often Nunavik youth in need of special care are taken south, where most of the foster care and rehabilitation resources are located.

“This puts enormous pressure on these children and goes against the requirements of the Youth Protection Act.”