Quebec backtracks on plan denying immigrant children daycare spots

Quebec is backtracking, for now, saying that children of immigrants with open work permits can stay in subsidized daycares.

Quebec is now backtracking on its plan, saying that children of immigrants with open work permits can stay in subsidized daycares while their files are under review.

Silvana Wallace speaks for thousands of early childhood care workers and said the pause comes too late.

“These families suddenly found themselves facing precarious living conditions because they could obviously lose their jobs in the face of not having a place to leave their children,” said the Federation des intervenantes en Petite Enfance du Quebec vice-president.

The Ministry of Families told daycare centres on Friday to keep agreements in place for those already enrolled.

The move reverses a July 9 directive targeting parents with open work permits.

Provincial Liberal MNA Jennifer Maccarone accuses the CAQ government of playing politics on the backs of vulnerable children.

“This is really the CAQ creating an issue so that they can create a false solution to something that was never a problem in the past,” she said.

She says that denying them daycare spots denies immigrant children a fair start.

“If we want to integrate them, if we want them to learn French, if you want them to be part of Quebec society, that starts with early childhood education,” said Maccarone.

The ministry declined a CTV News request for an interview.

Family Minister Suzanne Roy said on social media that the regulation still applies, particularly for new admissions.

“Parents who are not eligible will not be able to benefit from a subsidized place,” she wrote on X. “The MFA requests that the network not terminate the agreements of children who already have a place before the ongoing verifications are completed.”

She added that children already in the system will be reviewed case-by-case.

Roy said the policy dates back to 1997 to prioritize Quebec families.

Lawyer Olga Redko argues that Roy is being misleading.

“It’s an interpretative problem and, read properly, the regulation already protects open work permit holders’ rights to access the subsidized spaces,” she said.

Her firm, IMK, represents two families who threatened legal action if the directive stands.

Redko says the current uncertainty puts many parents in an impossible position.

“Lots of parents in this situation simply can’t afford to send their children to private daycares which can cost from $45 a day and upwards,” she said.

Advocates say compassion is needed and that the directive should be permanently scrapped.

For now, however, the future remains uncertain.