Candidate Seeking Position of Quebec Premier Proposes Use of Notwithstanding Clause to Circumvent Supreme Court Decision
Right after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of asylum seekers' access to public daycare in Quebec, Christine Fréchette, a contender for the leadership of the ruling party in Quebec, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), announced that she would use the notwithstanding clause to override the ruling. She declared that what was paramount for her was that the children of Quebeckers have priority access to the network of educational childcare services and that she would take all necessary means to defend this principle.
She did not have in mind improving the daycare and childcare systems which are sadly lacking. The working conditions of those who work there require serious improvements which would go a long way to ending the retention problem and to ending the endless waiting lists affecting the entire population. Rather, she was thinking about preserving her power to continue closing the door to asylum seekers, thereby running counter to any human considerations and to principles grounded in international law, without resolving the problem of waiting lists.
The other candidate for the leadership of the CAQ, Bernard Drainville, readily joined the anti-refugee chorus saying that some 6,000 places are currently occupied by children of asylum seekers, a figure yet to be verified by TML which suspects it is misinformation because it is contrary to why the case of lack of access was taken to the Supreme Court in the first place. He said that the Supreme Court's decision was a slap in the face to thousands of Quebeckers who are waiting for daycare placements for their children, often for years.
The two CAQ representatives are once again showing their reactionary colours by trying to mobilize Quebeckers against newcomers. Their mantra is to blame newcomers for society's problems directly exacerbated by the ongoing anti-social offensive implemented by governments using their positions of power and privilege. Problems related to housing, health care and education are not caused by newcomers. Even if the figure put forward by Mr. Drainville, which is difficult to verify, were accurate, it would not explain what is preventing parents in Quebec from finding daycare for their children. Asylum seekers do not have privileged access but must add their names to the list of at least 30,000 parents in Quebec who are waiting for subsidized daycare.
The origin of the notwithstanding clause is in the 1982 patriation of the Constitution and the creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by the Government of Canada. For many years in Quebec, it has been considered an essential element of parliamentary sovereignty and of a third constitutional path, despite the fact that it begs the question that basic human and civil rights must be provided with guarantees.
The premiers and other political figures of the time did not want to commit to enshrining these rights in the Charter or be forced by the courts to give them concrete effect. They accepted the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the condition that it would contain a clause offering them a way out. That way out was the notwithstanding clause -- Section 33.
Canada's
way out of committing to guarantee the rights and freedoms of
the
people as stipulated in Section 1 of the Charter is to say that
the
rights entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms may
be restricted by law "within such reasonable limits prescribed
by law
as can
be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
This short
phrase asserts that rights and freedoms are not guaranteed in
Canada
and can be suspended at any time when those in positions of
power and
privilege deem it serves them to do so.
The contenders for the leadership of the CAQ and therefore the premiership of Quebec carry on their anti-refugee vitriol despite the fact that members of the public know that one of the main causes of the lack of access to daycare spots is the shortage of educators. To address this staffing shortage, people working in this sector -- largely women -- are seeking to improve their working conditions precisely in order to prevent people from leaving their jobs and to attract new recruits. Instead, the CAQ prioritizes programs that pay the rich, such as investing in companies that produce armaments, rather than investing in social programs.
The rights of asylum seekers and migrants are increasingly being violated both by Quebec and by Canada, despite the fact that the Supreme Court ruled in their favour in this particular case. In fact, it is not only the rights of asylum seekers that are being violated, but also those of the entire Quebec population in terms of their right to education, health care and housing.
The question that must be posed and answered is how to put an end to this situation and build the fraternal unity of peoples on the basis of recognizing and defending the rights of all, under all conditions and circumstances, no exceptions.
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 7 - March 13, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/T560078.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca