Guillaume Cliche-Rivard authorized to visit the Mont Saint-Antoine center 7 months later

Photo: Francis Vachon Le Devoir Guillaume Cliche-Rivard had asked to visit the Mont Saint-Antoine rehabilitation centre for troubled youth last April.

Isabelle Porter in Quebec City

Published at 6:55 p.m.

• Quebec City

A week after the publication of a damning report on the Mont Saint-Antoine centre, the spokesperson for Québec solidaire in youth protection, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, was finally given permission to visit it. He had requested it seven months ago.

“It's not normal that it took a national crisis for me to be allowed to do my job,” he laments.

The MNA had requested to visit the rehabilitation centre for troubled youth last April. A request that remained unanswered by the Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) of Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.

He had contacted the establishment again last week following the filing of the investigation report by the Commission des droits de la personne et de la jeunesse du Québec (CDPDJ) on Mont Saint-Antoine.

This report mentioned water infiltration, rat infestation and potential exposure to asbestos, among other things. The CDPDJ concluded that the young residents had to be moved elsewhere immediately.

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A recommendation that was opposed by the minister responsible for social services, Lionel Carmant. According to him, the situation at the centre had improved enough for the young people to remain there.

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These explanations, however, left Mr. Cliche-Rivard skeptical. “I remain dismayed by what the CDPDJ told us in the report,” he said. “I want to go and see for myself what the situation really is.” »

« These young people, » he adds, « have no voice, » « they are the most vulnerable young people. » « No one is listening to them to defend them. »

This is not the first time that Québec solidaire has had difficulty visiting facilities in the health and social services network.

Mr. Cliche Rivard made a public statement last summer after being refused a visit to a CHSLD in his riding, the Yvon-Brunet Accommodation Centre.

The former QS social services portfolio leader, MNA Christine Labrie, has also previously denounced the lack of access for elected officials to youth centres. Paradoxically, last March, she lamented that Mont Saint-Antoine was the only centre she had managed to visit.

The Sherbrooke MP then tabled a bill in the National Assembly to allow parliamentarians to have the right to visit public establishments.

In light of his experience with Mont Saint-Antoine, his colleague Guillaume Cliche-Rivard believes that such a law is more relevant than ever. “It is not normal that my request was left on the back burner for seven months and left to the discretion of managers,” he argues. “We are elected to the National Assembly and we have a job to do to monitor government action.” “

This access, he specifies, should be ensured for deputies who wish to visit facilities in their constituency, but also so that the spokespersons for a file can go to those that affect their “national files”.

Thus, Mont Saint-Antoine is not in his constituency, but he is the spokesperson for the second opposition in matters of social services.

Also read

• Guillaume Cliche-Rivard will be able to visit a CHSLD to which he was denied access
• Minister Carmant is once again under pressure to resign
• Québec solidaire deplores the lack of access for elected officials to youth centres