Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse – Considering the limited availability of residential care units for youth in Nunavik, Inuit youth must leave their communities to receive rehabilitation services. Two media articles reporting that Inuit youth could not speak their language in rehabilitation centers prompted the Commission to launch an investigation. The investigation initially concerned the right of Inuit youth to speak their language as well as the social services they receive while in the residential care of the CIUSSS-de-l’Ouest-de- l’Île-de-Montréal (CIUSSS-ODIM). However, the Commission soon realized that youth residing in these facilities were deprived of a formal education, as were youth residing in units under the governance of the Ungava Tulattavik Health Center in Dorval.

For this reason, the scope of the investigation was expanded to include their right to education. The investigation focused on the following areas:

• The cultural safety of Inuit youth from Nunavik placed under the residential care of the CIUSSS-ODIM
• The use of language
• Cultural and social isolation: obstacles to exercising cultural rights
• Rehabilitation services
• Cultural competence and clinical tools
• The right to rehabilitation services in their communities
• Access to education in English of Inuit youth placed in residential care
  • Obstacles to access to education in English and lack of schooling
  • The limits of the legal framework
  • The cultural safety of Aboriginal students
  • Final considerations

The current investigation demonstrates a series of actions and omissions and institutional practices on the part of the different actors involved which led to the exclusion of Inuit children in residential care from the formal education system as well as a chronic violation of their right to education and to the full development of their human and cultural potential.
https://cdpdj.qc.ca/storage/app/media/publications/enquete-inuit-jeunes-DPJ_resume_EN.pdf