Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press “These programs, indeed, we said that they are for two, three, four, five years [depending on the] case. But there are other programs that existed and still exist for people who need more than two, three, four, five years of direct assistance,” explained Prime Minister François Legault on Thursday.
Prime Minister François Legault recognized Thursday that victims of criminal acts will have to turn to solidarity or social assistance measures when their compensation is cut, under a reform by his government. Oppositions have called for the law to be reopened for amendment.
Le Devoir reported on Thursday a shock wave among people benefiting from the compensation scheme for victims of criminal acts, 'IVAC. These victims are receiving letters these days reminding them of the end, in October, of their benefits. This time limitation was established by a reform carried out by the Legault government in 2021.
“These programs, indeed, we said that they are for two, three, four, five years [depending on the] case. But there are also other programs that existed and still exist for people who need more than two, three, four, five years of direct assistance. There are social programs that exist, so help from Chantal Rouleau’s ministry,” declared the Prime Minister. Minister Rouleau is responsible for social assistance and social solidarity programs, the latter being intended for adults who have severe employment constraints.
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The Prime Minister also said he was “very proud” of his government’s reform. “We have doubled the number of people who are eligible,” he stressed.
He “did not at all” make false promises to the parents at the Laval daycare, he defended. The day after the attack on the daycare, which occurred a year ago to the day, Mr. Legault said he made psychological help to the victims a priority. “It will probably stay in their heads for a lifetime,” he said again on Thursday, after sending his best thoughts to those affected by the tragedy.
In a publication on the social network X, the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, also recalled that his bill broadened the notion of victim. “What the article [du Duty] does not say is that before the reform, these parents could not have been recognized as victims and compensated by the regime without a battle in court, he wrote. The IVAC reform, which represents an investment of $250 million, makes it possible to help and support twice as many victims as before, so that they can recover and get back on with their lives. » Questioned three times in the corridors of parliament on Thursday, Minister Jolin-Barrette did not answer journalists' questions.
I wanted to come back to this article⬇️ https://t.co/8R1s7gsVik pic.twitter.com/YhtfevXVG7
— Simon Jolin-Barrette (@SJB_CAQ) February 8, 2024
Oppositions demand a change to the law
The opposition parties took turns calling on Mr. Jolin-Barrette to do his homework. The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) and the Parti Québécois (PQ) asked him to modify his law to better compensate victims.
“He must reopen the law and he must accept the amendment that we tabled at the time, which ensured that lifetime compensation was maintained. Then, unfortunately, we see examples: we highlight the commemoration of what happened in Laval a year ago. We see very tangible examples, where we tell people: “we are not going to abandon you collectively”, but, unfortunately, that is what we see,” launched the interim leader of the PLQ, M rc Tanguay.
He said he remembered seeing “people in tears” during work on the IVAC reform led by Minister Jolin-Barrette. “We were pleading with the minister. What we told him was: “It is not true that a person, from one day to the next, on an anniversary date of two or three years, no longer has needs and that we must abandon it.” And he never gave up on that,” he lamented.
MP Joël Arseneau, of the PQ, also declared that Quebec must “change the law”. His party is sponsoring a petition which asks the government to “increase the duration of income replacement assistance, to cover the entire duration of the victim’s incapacity to work”.
“In the case of victims — and we are talking about victims of criminal acts — we impose a counter on them and after a year, three years, they have to return to work at a high cost. what does it cost? I think that Quebec is a more sensitive, humanist and caring society and in that sense, we invite people to sign our petition and indeed, we must change the law,” he declared.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, from Québec solidaire, denounced the “rigidity” of the IVAC. “We invite the minister to be open, to be flexible, to be compassionate and to see what we can do in Quebec to not abandon victims of criminal acts because human suffering, it doesn't always have a very clear end date, he said. You can carry trauma with you for a very, very long time, even a lifetime. We had expressed these fears and unfortunately, they are confirmed by what we are learning today. »