The government of François Legault in the Quebec province wishes to cancel the recent ruling issued by the Quebec Superior Court, which restored to asylum seekers the right to receive subsidized daycare services, on the grounds of a legal error.

It is noted that Judge Marc Saint-Pierre stated in his decision issued on May 25 that the provincial government does not have the right to discriminate against asylum seekers and deny them this type of financial assistance.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government, which had 30 days to appeal the ruling, believes that Judge Saint-Pierre erred in law and did not properly interpret the Act respecting educational childcare services (LSGEE).

The “Committee for Access to Childcare for Asylum Seekers,” a non-governmental organization, issued a statement reminding that such an appeal procedure automatically suspends the decision issued by Judge Saint-Pierre, thus again preventing asylum seekers from benefiting from the daily rate of $8.70 in early childhood centers (CPE) affiliated with the Ministry of Families in the Quebec government.

“Today, through the appeal, the government continues to deprive these families of a fundamental right,” the committee said.

The committee added that it is upset by the government’s ultimate refusal to grant asylum seeker families the right to benefit from this service.

It is noted that this issue has been before the courts for several years.

The previous Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) government led by Philippe Couillard had reinterpreted Article 3 of the regulation related to the reduced contribution, connected to the Act respecting educational childcare services for children, in April 2018. This regulation determines the eligibility conditions for subsidized daycare.

At that time, subsidized childcare centers were informed of a new directive stating that parents applying for refugee status would no longer be eligible for the reduced rate.

After a little more than a year, an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo named Biego Sibuaba Kanyenda filed a lawsuit to appeal this government decision, arguing that it contradicts the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Charter of Individual Rights and Freedoms of Quebec.

Lawyers considered that excluding asylum seekers from the eligibility criteria for the reduced rate in daycare centers constitutes discrimination against them, noting that this government decision particularly punishes women.

However, the court rejected this argument, as the plaintiff failed to prove this defect concretely. But Judge Marc Saint-Pierre won his case on another argument, namely that Quebec is not authorized under the Act respecting educational childcare services to determine categories of people eligible to benefit from the reduced rate.