An Anicinape mother from Kitcisakik in Abitibi-Témiscamingue has to travel 400 miles to visit her teenager who is being held at a youth center in Drummondville.
For a year, Monique Papatie has been campaigning for her 16-year-old daughter to be transferred to a center in Val-d’Or, 30 minutes from her home.
In addition to the many speakers who succeeded on the record, making the process more cumbersome and complicated, and until recently he was told that there was no place for his daughter.
“For the last year we’ve been told you’re being transferred, you’re being transferred. But if you don’t know! My daughter ended up hurting herself even more because she was tired of living like this. She suffered a lot and because we are far away she often felt lonely there.
Teenage girl in distress
The teenager has been under the aegis of the DPJ since she was 12 when her mother, who went to Trois-Rivières to study, went through many hardships, including a stormy breakup and drug problems.
Since then, Monique says, she’s regained control. The mother returned to live in her community in Algonquin, where she found support. She claims to be sober and has a full-time job. During this time, the teenager’s mental health deteriorated.
She recently posted messages expressing her discouragement and even intention to end her life. According to her mother, she ran away from home and hurt herself.
First Nations children overrepresented
Children from indigenous communities are over-represented in youth protection services.
Reports are four times more frequent and the placement rate eight times higher than for foreign children.