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Nearly 80 per cent of complaints of violence in Quebec day-care centres were lodged against home-run centres, even though they represent less than half of all child care spaces, a government report says.
The 2004-2005 report for Family Minister Carole Theberge obtained by The Canadian Press says that 22 of the 34 reports of violence were made against home day cares, which account for 46 per cent of all spaces in the province. Among the complaints of violence were reports of bad attitudes, verbal and punitive abuse, humiliation and discrimination.
However, officials for a provincial day-care association insisted that 22 complaints in a system with 87,000 places does not represent a generalized system of abuse.
"If there's a real, documented problem with violence, there's no hesitation," said Jean Robitaille, the director of l'Association Quebecoise des centres de la petite enfance.
"We will immediately intervene to change the situation or revoke the accreditation."
While home day-care centres received the most complaints of violence, 53 per cent of all complaints were filed against for-profit private centres, even though they account for 15 per cent of spaces, the report said.
An association representing private day cares said the complaints referred to a small number of centres that did not respect standards.
"There are always about 50 day cares that never conform and where parents file complaints," said Sylvain Levesque, president of the Quebec association of private day cares.
Quebec also operates a public day-care centre system where users pay $7 per day.
- reprinted from the Canadian Press