TORONTO — The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a Quebec regulation denying subsidized daycare access to refugee claimants violated equality rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, finding the policy had a discriminatory impact on women.In a decision released Friday, a majority of the court concluded that Quebec’s rules excluded refugee claimants from the province’s subsidized childcare system in a way that disproportionately affected female claimants.The case involved a woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who arrived in Quebec in October 2018 with three young children and immediately applied for refugee protection. While awaiting a decision on her claim, the province denied her access to Quebec’s subsidized daycare network for her children.Her refugee claim was approved in January 2021.Quebec’s Reduced Contribution Regulation allows parents in certain immigration categories to access subsidized daycare spaces, commonly offered through the province’s centres de la petite enfance (CPE) network. The spaces cost roughly $9 per day and are in high demand.Under the regulation, refugee claimants were not eligible for the reduced rate until their refugee status had been formally recognized by the federal government.In a majority decision, the court found the rule violated Section 15 of the Charter, which guarantees equality rights..The justices concluded that the policy had a disproportionate impact on women because they generally carry a larger share of childcare responsibilities. Without access to affordable daycare, the court said women refugee claimants faced greater barriers to entering the workforce.The ruling states that excluding refugee claimants from subsidized childcare “reinforces, perpetuates, and exacerbates” the economic and social disadvantages faced by women in that group.The court also found the infringement could not be justified under Section 1 of the Charter, which allows governments to impose reasonable limits on rights if they can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.Quebec argued the policy aimed to ensure that subsidized daycare benefits were reserved for residents with a sufficient connection to the province.The court accepted that the objective could be considered important but concluded the exclusion of refugee claimants was not rationally connected to that goal. The majority noted that other non-permanent residents were eligible for the program, making the exclusion of refugee claimants inconsistent with the policy’s stated purpose..Following the decision, federal Culture Minister Marc Miller welcomed the ruling.Miller said the court’s decision confirmed that excluding refugee claimants and asylum seekers from subsidized daycare programs was unconstitutional.“The initial decision, morally, was the wrong one, I think,” Miller said.“Targeting refugees and asylum seekers just wasn’t right.”As a remedy, the court ordered that refugee claimants be included as an eligible category for subsidized daycare.However, the majority rejected a lower court’s requirement that refugee claimants must hold a work permit to qualify. Instead, it ruled that all parents residing in Quebec who are refugee claimants should be eligible for the subsidized rate.Several judges agreed with the outcome but differed in their reasoning.Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote separately that the discrimination could also be understood as directly targeting refugee claimant status, which he argued should be recognized as an analogous ground of discrimination under the Charter.Justice Suzanne Côté, in dissent, said the regulation did not discriminate on the basis of sex and that refugee claimant status should not be treated as a protected ground under the Charter. She would have upheld Quebec’s policy.The decision marks the third time Quebec’s daycare eligibility rules have been struck down by the courts.
