The lawyer who denounces the DPJ

CHRONICLE / When Valérie Assouline agreed to take on a first DPJ case, she had no idea that she had just opened a real Pandora's box.

She has no intention of closing it.

Her first case is that of the grandmother and mother of the little girl from Granby that she represents in civil proceedings, she didn't hesitate for a second before saying yes. She does it pro bono , which means she doesn't ask for anything in return, not a penny, the two women can't afford her services, especially not with the ridiculous amount that legal aid provides.

Then she took on a second case, charging a fraction of the hours she spent on it; the couple doesn't make big salaries. Both parents have been trying to find a lawyer for at least a year, and they've lost count of the number of refusals.

They tried crowdfunding and raised $10.

Many of them knock on the doors of law firms to find one who will take on their case. DPJ files are often heavy and complicated, and they take a lot of time. One mother sent me a response she received: "I haven't looked at your emails, but given the quantity, I have to resign myself to telling you that I won't be able to take your file. It seems very voluminous to me and I don't have the time to serve you properly.

"I wish you good luck."

A classic.

Valérie Assouline's name has spread like wildfire in the world of parents who are in trouble with the DPJ and are desperate to be heard. Her mailbox has been taken by storm. "I've received over 600 stories, it's keeping me awake at night..."

She has "boxes and boxes of evidence."

She didn't expect this. "I thought at first that these were a few isolated cases, I never would have thought that there were so many. There are gross injustices. There are workers who work well, I thank them, but there are also those who abuse their powers."

She is calling for a serious change of direction. "The law is made to protect vulnerable children, that is not the problem. The problem is in the application of the law. There are interventions that are senseless. […] We must put things in perspective, there are interventions that are extraordinary, it is a difficult job, but I denounce what must be denounced."

Like Granby.

Like so many others.

She has one and another examples. "A few weeks ago, a one-week-old baby was taken away and sent to the drug-addicted father. […] And this mother who called for domestic violence" who saw her call for help turn against her, the DPJ criticized her for exposing her children to an adult conflict.

Another case, a speaker who announced without further ado "to a 13-year-old girl: "You will not see your brother anymore, he has been adopted." It revolts me."

Faced with all this, she decided to denounce, to expose what she sees, so that changes can be made. "If I don't do it, why am I a lawyer? It must be denounced, I must denounce it, I have no choice, it is too serious." She asked to be heard by the Laurent commission on children's rights and youth protection, she is waiting for a response. "But we can't wait a year and a half, we have to act now. The magic of childhood doesn't last long."

And we break it, too often.

Born in Morocco, Valérie Assouline arrived in Canada at the age of four and studied sociology and law at the University of Montreal. "I was drawn to family law, and I mainly did custody cases. But it is mainly as a mother that I denounce." She has four children, aged between 8 and 15.

These comments are her own.

While waiting for the commission, Valérie Assouline publishes on Facebook the summary of the cases she receives. "There is a pattern. It seems that the danger barometer has reached the point where we see danger everywhere, we identify as danger what is not, and we remove the children." Instead of helping some parents, we disqualify them.

And there is the opposite, like Granby.

His other hobby horse, supervised visits. “The DPJ places a child and gives supervised visits of two hours every two weeks and then, they will evaluate the attachment bond. How do you want to develop an attachment bond like that? And they are the ones who broke it…”

And "if the parent complains, we reduce it."

From what she sees, the DPJ too often turns to these visits where parents and children are confined in a room, where every word that is spoken, every gesture that is made, is analyzed. "If we didn't monopolize so many workers in these supervised visits, there would be more to go out into the field."

There would be fewer waiting lists.

The lawyer has "a lot of hope" for the Parent Commission, which begins its work on October 22, and hopes that the exercise will lead to real changes. "This really needs to change. Quebecers pay a lot [for the child protection network], they have the right to know."

The same goes for the death of this little girl who shook all of Quebec in April after slipping through the cracks. "There are facts that will come out about Granby, the little girl must not have died in vain."