WHAT: BCCLA at Supreme Court of Canada to intervene in Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse v Directrice de la protection de la jeunesse du CISSS de la Montérégie-Est to argue that courts must order systemic remedies to protect youth in care

WHEN: March 19, 2024, at 6:30 am PST

WHERE: Supreme Court of Canada (Ottawa)

Ottawa, ON (unceded Anishinabe Algonquin Territory) – The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) will present oral arguments as an intervener at the Supreme Court of Canada’s hearing of Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse v Directrice de la protection de la jeunesse du CISSS de la Montérégie-Est on March 19, 2024. The Court will decide whether the Youth Division of the Court of Québec has the power to grant systemic remedies to protect children in care from serious abuses. 

This case involves a young person under the care of the Director of Youth Protection in Québec. The young person brought an application to the Youth Division of the Court of Québec alleging that their rights had been violated while placed in treatment and supervision facilities. These allegations included the use of isolation cells, and physical restraints.

The Youth Division found that the young person’s rights had been violated, and that these violations were the result of systemic problems. The Youth Division ordered certain system wide remedies to prevent these abuses from continuing. On appeal, the orders were altered to only apply to the specific young person in question. The Court of Appeal held that only individual remedies were available under the governing legislation.

The BCCLA has intervened in this case to argue that the distinction between individual and systemic remedies is unhelpful, and that any remedy should be available as long as it is not too “remote” from the cause of a human rights violation. Vulnerable children cannot be expected to mount difficult legal challenges over and over again in the face of a broken system.

The BCCLA is represented by Vincent Larochelle of Larochelle Law.