When it comes to Black children, youth protection report lets province off the hook, experts say

For people who have spent years working with Black families, the solutions put forth on Monday to fix Quebec's youth protection services have missed the mark, and these experts say there's very little in that 550-page report to alleviate their fears that the system will continue to unfairly punish Black children.

Black children — and even more so, Indigenous children — are overly represented in Quebec's youth protection system.  

Experts within the community say the reason this happens so frequently to Black youth is simple: it's racism. They wanted the commission to make it clear in its report that the challenges Black children face are a byproduct of systemic racism in education, health, policing and the court system. 

It did not. Instead, when it comes to the challenges for Black youth, the commission's report emphasized the need to improve cultural training for social workers and for better collaboration with community groups. 

"The systemic racism that this province wants to deny, that is what is the issue," said Alicia Boatswain-Kyte, an assistant professor at McGill University's School of Social Work. 

"No matter how much you try to train workers to be more culturally competent, it's still an institution or government that's expected to provide services to these families, and that same government is also the one that's responsible for the harm these families experience."

According to Boatswain-Kyte and other experts, the commission appeared to lump Black families together with other groups, namely immigrants.

"How Black children are viewed in Quebec in the context of child protection is that they're recent immigrants.… There's this kind of cultural confusion, that they just don't know how it works in Quebec," she said. 

"That's not the reality of all Black Children. It's definitely not what we're seeing for the English Black community. It's not an immigration issue, or an adaption or integration problem. It's racism. It's discrimination. Second-generation Black families are not able to get services."

Black children in Montreal are twice as likely to be flagged to youth protective services than white children. 

Last fall, Boatswain-Kyte released findings that showed the situation was even worse for English-speaking Black children — they are five times more likely to be reported than white children.

Andrés Fontecilla, the Québec Solidaire MNA for Laurier-Dorion who took part in the commission, says while he understands that some might find the report lacking, it addresses the youth protection system's fundamental issues. 

"We decided not to insist on the notion of systemic racism but to insist on an objective, real problem, which is the overrepresentation of Black children in youth protection services," he said.  "We didn't go as far as writing systemic racism, but if you read between the lines and read the recommendations, you will find the basis of that notion."

LISTEN | Alicia Boatswain-Kyte outlines her concerns regarding report on youth protection

The commission acknowledged the discrepancy, and the need for the province to provide more funding to community groups who likely have a better understanding of what families are experiencing. The report also calls for more collaboration between these groups and social workers with Quebec's child protection agency, Le Directeur de la protection jeunesse (DPJ). 

It says these solutions were already highlighted in a report in 2011 from the Quebec Human Rights Commission and the province simply needs to apply the 10-year-old recommendations.

"I expected more," said Tiffany Callender, the executive director of  Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association. 

"Why have a commission that's going to regurgitate old recommendations that were never acted on in the first place. Why don't you address the fact that they were never applied? Just a crazy thought: When are we going to hold the system accountable for the endless reports, research, findings that say we need change?"

As part of her role, Callender oversees a prevention program called "Strengthening Black Families,"  in partnership with the African Canadian Prevention Development Network. The program helps Black families and children learn coping strategies in hopes of keeping them out of the youth protection system. 

In 2018, the federal government committed nearly $3 million in funding to the program.

"We've not received a dollar from the Quebec government, whose mandate is to deal with health and youth protection," Callender said. "Even being a Black service provider makes you invisible in this province."

Will the DPJ listen to the community?

Instead of relying on better training for DPJ workers, Callender and Boatswain-Kyte say Black community groups should take more of a leading role in assisting its at-risk youth. The commission made similar recommendations as it pertained to Indigenous communities.

Lionel Carmant, Quebec's junior health minister, shot down the idea on Tuesday, though he did say many groups have expertise that can come in handy before a child is reported to the DPJ, and as a result, they need more funding.

"What we need to do is support these organizations, which actually do a huge amount of work for youth protection," he said. 

If the DPJ does start collaborating more with organizations in the Black community, Boatswain-Kyte is worried about a power imbalance. 

"On the ground, these [partnerships] are very, very complicated," she said. "You'll have situations where the community might feel one thing, the agency might feel another. How do you work that out? In the past it's been [the DPJ saying], 'Well, no, we're the experts, so we get to decide' ".

She adds: "To accept that maybe they don't know better requires humility."

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.