The association of private family circles welcomes the decision of the Ministry of the Family to “repair its error” by closing a daycare center installed in the residence of a relative of the Hells Angels. However, the organization calls for more transparency in the network.
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The president of the Quebec Association of Private Educational Family Environments (AQMFEP), Julie Boisjoly, welcomed Monday the decision of the ministry to put the key in the door of the daycare center which was in the basement of the residence of Dave Blais Robitaille and which was exploited by his spouse.
Photo taken from Facebook
Dave Blais Robitaille has been on full parole since October 2018. This allows him to serve part of his sentence, which is due to end in 2024, under community supervision, provided he meets certain conditions.
The newspaper revealed on Saturday that Blais Robitaille had served heavy sentences for drug trafficking as well as for gangsterism, and that he had been identified as a close friend of the Hells Angels.
His spouse had in hand all the documents allowing him to operate, including a certificate “of absence of impediment”, which confirms that the criminal records of all the adults living in the residence had been checked. This document had been issued by an official of the Ministry of the Family, despite the heavy criminal record of the owner of the residence, which the minister himself described as a “big mistake”.
“The government has recognized its error and is in the process of rechecking all the files where there was an impediment to prevent other events like the one this weekend. That’s what had to be done,” emphasizes Ms. Boisjoly.
Transparency
However, the latter recalls that those responsible for private and unregulated environments, also called PNRs, must disclose their certificates to the parents of registered children. This is not the case for recognized circles.
“In recognized family settings, exactly the same thing could have happened, except that the parents would not have been made aware of the situation”, explains Julie Boisjoly.
The AQMFEP now hopes that Minister Lacombe will take advantage of the overhaul of the network provided for in Bill 1 to emphasize transparency by applying the same model for disclosing judicial impediments.
“We want parents to be able to make their decisions with full knowledge of the facts,” insists Julie Boisjoly, assuring that people with legal impediments “work in recognized settings”.