Quebec court of appeal rejects request to deny asylum seekers subsidized child care

Children of asylum seekers will be able to access subsidized child care as they wait for the Supreme Court to rule on their eligibility.

The Quebec Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected the province’s request to deny them access as they wait for the ruling.

Quebec asked the Court of Appeal to suspend the execution of its Feb. 7 ruling, which found the government’s exclusion of refugee claimants from the subsidized child care program discriminates against women and violates the right to equality.

According to court documents, the Quebec government argued that “the sudden addition of a significant number of children in the network significantly increases the pressure on [the] regime.”

However, judge Lori Renée Weitzman did not side with Quebec’s arguments.

“Certainly, the government must take steps to ensure that the supply of educational childcare services meets demand, but considering that 32,113 children are currently waiting for a place in Quebec, the addition of a pool of 6,676 children of asylum seekers likely to request a place in educational childcare does not cause serious and irreparable harm to the applicant,” the judge wrote.

Asylum seekers will now have the right to send their children to daycares at $9.10 a day.

But the ruling doesn’t require the government to immediately disburse the additional sums to create 4,663 additional spaces for asylum seekers.

Spokesperson for Québec Solidaire for immigration and family issues Guillaume Cliche-Rivard called on the CAQ government to abandon its inquiry with the Supreme Court.

“Enough of wasting public money. Minister (of Immigration) Fréchette must also ensure that the instruction is respected within the entire network: the children of asylum seekers have the right to early childhood education,” said Cliche-Rivard in a statement sent through email.

According to data from the Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration, there were 8,345 children, aged 0 to 4, asylum seekers welcomed in Quebec in November 2023.

-With files from La Presse Canadienne