An investigation by the Quebec Human Rights and Youth Rights Commission says Inuit children in youth protection facilities in Montreal's West Island are being left behind — deprived of proper education, sometimes discouraged from speaking their own language and left feeling isolated and homesick. The education of Inuit children received 'very limited advocacy' according to investigator Yolaine Williams. "There's kind of an inertia, I would say, of youth protection authorities and also of school boards and the minister of education," Williams said. Many children from Nunavik who enter into youth protection are flown thousands of kilometres to the south to stay at group homes and rehabilitation centers in Montreal's West Island. Williams said the main recommendation is that the Nunavik Regional Board of Health, with support from the province, create its own separate youth protection system based in the north.

Source: CBC News May 20, 2021 01:16 UTC