Quebec names new head of embattled youth protection agency amid multiple scandals

By The Canadian Press on October 30, 2024.

QUEBEC – The Quebec government has named Lesley Hill as the province’s new youth protection director, after her predecessor stepped down earlier this week amid a number of scandals plaguing the agency.

Hill is a longtime youth services worker who served on the Laurent Commission, a public inquiry that examined the state of the province’s youth protection system following the killing of a seven-year-old girl from Granby, Que., in 2019.

The Coalition Avenir Québec government has been in turmoil since a story emerged last week that nine educators at a Montreal youth detention facility were suspended or fired after having had sexual contact with five minors.

That’s in addition to a youth protection agency in the Mauricie region in central Quebec that was placed under trusteeship in October, after it was accused of taking children away too quickly from their parents.

On Monday, former provincial director Catherine Lemay stepped down at the behest of Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant.

Hill is expected to meet reporters at a news conference in Quebec City with Carmant on Thursday morning.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

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