Quebec will better regulate daycares favoring religion or ethnic origin

Quebec promises to better regulate the dozens of daycare centers in Greater Montreal funded by the province which select children according to their ethnic or religious origin, a practice contrary to the law which has existed for several years.

This is not a legal practice. If there have been complaints, we will intervene and carry out checkscommented Tuesday the Minister of Families, Suzanne Roy, on the microphone of the show All one morning on the airwaves of ICI Première. Whether it is ethnic origin or religious affiliation, these are not selection criteria and should not be.she added.

A new uniform system expected this fall

The Legault government must launch its long-awaited one-stop shop for all early childhood centers next fall (CPE) and subsidized daycares in the province. This centralized waiting list will be subject to a single admission policy, in which thebelonging to a community will not be an admissible criterion.

Currently in the network there are more than 2000 admission policies according to such CPE or such subsidized daycareargued Minister Roy.

The government’s one-stop shop will replace the La Place 0-5 site, the current one-stop shop for childcare registrations having been the subject of numerous criticisms in the past. Its implementation was postponed for a year for computer system reasons.

Admission criteria contrary to the law

The Press reported Tuesday that 36 government-funded daycare centers have an admissions policy in which children’s religious affiliation or ethnicity is part of the selection criteria. The daily combed through the La Place 0-5 site to obtain this information.

However, such access criteria are contrary to the Educational Childcare Act. Providers of subsidized educational childcare must ensure that children’s admission is not linked to the learning of a specific belief, dogma or practice of religionit is stipulated.

Among these 36 CPE and daycares, some prefer that the child speaks a language or is a member of a religious association. Others prioritize toddlers whose other family members have already attended the establishment.

These daycares cost $9.10 per day per child, as do the others CPE. The government pays the rest of the costs.

A problem that does not date from yesterday

These access criteria based on the religious or ethnic affiliation of children have existed for several years. In a report published in November 2020 (New window)the KPMG firm also indicated to the Ministry of Family that the risk is pupil to have discriminatory admission policies, for example based on gender or religion. The admission policies of the facilities were also denounced by the Auditor General of Quebec in the fall of 2020.

If complaints of discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin or religion were brought to our attention, our inspectors were immediately sent to carry out checks and intervene.

Once the one-stop shop is launched with its single admission policy, will daycares not be tempted to circumvent the new single admission policy by promoting their particular mission or their partnership with a local establishment? This will not be possibleassured Suzanne Roy, stressing that her ministry is in the process of analyzing all partnerships and missions to draw a detailed inventory.

Obviously, we want there to be partnerships to ensure that specific needs are met in certain environments or that the most vulnerable are accepted. But we will ensure that all partnerships and missions comply with the law and do not involve discrimination.she concluded.

With information from Romain Schué