The Supreme Court will consider Quebec's appeal over asylum seekers' access to creche

The Supreme Court of Canada has announced that it will hear a challenge from the Quebec government regarding a lower court ruling that allows asylum seekers to access subsidized daycare spaces.

In a decision released on Thursday, the Supreme Court granted the province’s attorney general permission to appeal a February 2024 ruling from the Court of Appeal, which determined that Quebec’s daycare regulations are discriminatory.

The Court of Appeal found that asylum seekers with valid work permits are entitled to enroll their children in Quebec’s public daycare system. This case originated from a woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo who sought asylum and obtained a work permit; however, her three children were denied access to the heavily subsidized daycare network because Quebec’s regulations permitted access only after refugee status had been granted by the federal government.

Spaces in the sought-after network cost approximately $9 per day.

Quebec has already faced two legal defeats on this issue in lower courts.

In May 2022, Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc St-Pierre ruled in favor of the complainant, stating that the Quebec government had implemented its daycare restrictions “without legislative authority.” As a result, the judge deemed the rule prohibiting access to asylum seekers as inoperative.

However, St-Pierre did not concur with the complainant’s claim of discrimination.

Conversely, the Court of Appeal ruled that the opposite was true. While Quebec did possess the authority to restrict access to its daycare network, the three justices concluded unanimously that the regulation was discriminatory against women and thus violated Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In Quebec City on Thursday, Family Minister Suzanne Roy stated that the Court of Appeal's ruling could potentially open access to about 7,000 daycare-aged children of asylum seekers, requiring the equivalent of 88 subsidized daycare centers to accommodate them.

On the X platform, Roy mentioned that these additional spots would necessitate $300 million in infrastructure investments, $120 million in subsidies, and an extra 900 early childhood educators.

However, Carole Senneville, president of the CSN union, expressed in a statement on Thursday that the government is engaging in “judicial harassment” of asylum seekers. She noted that the province has failed to deliver on its promise to enhance capacity in the daycare network.

Senneville emphasized that the solutions to the issue are well-known and “targeting asylum seekers is not one of them. What is needed is more places in early childhood centers and in family educational daycare services.”

The Supreme Court's decision on Thursday comes amid Quebec's push for the federal government to transfer half of the asylum seekers in the province to other parts of Canada.

“It is important that this case be heard by the Supreme Court,” stated Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge on X. “We have been saying it for months: Quebec can no longer continue to accept so many asylum seekers.”

“Our public services, including our educational daycare services, are completely overwhelmed, and it is the federal government’s responsibility to act.”