‘Intolerable’: Educators at Montreal youth detention centre accused of having sex with minors

Quebec’s social services minister says he’s disturbed by reports that educators at a detention centre for youth in Montreal had sexual relations with minor detainees.

Lionel Carmant told reporters today that both the detention facility and the police are investigating to shed light on the allegations of sexual misconduct at the Cité-des-Prairies rehabilitation centre for troubled youth in Rivière-des-Prairies. “What I’ve been told is despicable. […] I insisted that police be involved in the inquiry, […] the penalties will be at the level of the severity of the act that was done. Sexual abuse of people in authority is unacceptable wherever it happens.”

La Presse reported that nine employees at the detention centre had sexual intercourse with at least five minor residents, and that one of the educators had a baby with a detainee.

The regional health authority – CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal – says two managers at the facility were temporarily removed and that an unspecified numbers of employees who worked under them have been suspended or fired.

The health authority says it expects a report later in the fall into the centre, which houses some of the most troubled youth in Quebec’s child services system, most of whom have committed crimes.

Carmant says he found out about the situation last week and adds that sexual abuse of vulnerable youth by people in authority is “intolerable in all environments.”

“If people know of other situations like this, they need to come forward and let us know, depending on what the inquiry will say. If we need to go further and, you know, look elsewhere, we will do it. Because this is something that I think is despicable. I think this destroys lives, and this cannot keep going on,” adds Carmant.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2024.