Justice for children: A call for courage

P&CH: What led to your involvement in the field of children's rights? AR: I was raised in a very loving and caring family, by parents who believed in us and told us that if we were honest and worked hard that we would have success. My father was a champion for justice, especially for children. He was a successful businessman, and from a very young age we were made aware that life was not equally fair for everybody. There were people who were rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, educated and not educated, and we discussed it at home. It is how my thoughts about poverty became more acute. P&CH: When did it occur to you that poverty was an issue of social justice? AR: I have known that all my life. But in general, as a society, we have missed the link between justice and poverty because otherwise we would certainly work harder to achieve justice. We do not realize what we are doing by having more and more poor people, more and more poor children. We do not understand at all what poverty does to people or a society. My philosophy is that we are born with every possibility–toutes les possibilités! There is no limit to what we can achieve when we are born. As we get older, usually our parents nourish the idea that life is wonderful and that we have gifts we can develop. Our purpose in life is to know who we are and to make sure we develop our talents to become more and more of ourselves. But many people do not understand that if you starve a child, if you break a child, if that child is cold, if that child has nobody to nourish the spirit, then that child will never be able to become himself or herself – never, never, never. And that is where we see violence and delinquencies. That is where we see dependencies. But at the beginning, from the first day, we have all the possibilities in the world. We should remember that. P&CH: What is the role of the government in nurturing those possibilities? AR: One is to ensure that families are able to cope with their responsibilities, that they can feed their children and live in good housing. We have to support parents and acknowledge their influence as early as conception. For parents who have lost their self-esteem and their dreams, we need to help them so that they can help their children. We need compassion, which means wanting the same thing for somebody else and helping them obtain it. P&CH: You spent many years working in the justice system. How does a system, like the justice system, show compassion? AR: Right now it does not. The youth protection system (in Quebec) does not offer the resources that children need. So judges have to adjust their orders to fit the existing resources, not the child's needs. It is like saying to a child, ‘I know you are suffering. I know you are in danger, but, because I am not strong enough and because I am not courageous enough, I will not order what you need’. What kind of message do we give the child? A child finds himself in a rehabilitation centre when what he needs is a foster family. That is unacceptable. There has to be a revolution in the justice system as far as youth protection and youth services. I will continue to work until it happens. P&CH: Health care providers also see the impact of poverty on children but often feel powerless to make a difference on a very broad scale. What advice would you give them? AR: We do not have to feel powerless. We have to take responsibility, and we have to do it whether we are teachers, paediatricians or judges. It is an individual responsibility, not an institutional responsibility. It is not up to the hospital, the school or the courts, it is my responsibility. I have to stand up for the children who I am treating, who I am educating or who I am responsible for. Reconnect with yourself, with your children, with your responsibility, with your ethical values and say ‘I am a doctor because’, ‘I am a teacher because’ or ‘I am a judge because…I believe in justice’. And then stand and be a little more courageous. We cannot be afraid of being outspoken. We are not paid for peers to like us, to play golf or to go to parties. We are paid because we have a mission. I know how hard it is to be rejected by your peers and not be part of the gang, but at the end of the day, who cares? Beware of the consequences if you do not take care of the smallest and the most vulnerable among us. Beware. Everybody says, ‘I am so powerless’. No, we are indifferent. It is not the same thing. If we feel powerless it is because it serves us. P&CH: Over the past 20 years, there has been much talk about ending child poverty. Have you seen any appreciable progress? AR: Not only has there been no progress, but it has worsened. And not just material poverty, it is cultural poverty, psychological poverty and social poverty – everything that diminishes your capacity to believe in yourself and accomplish your goals. That is poverty. P&CH: Is there any reason to be optimistic for change? AR: I think it is important to remind ourselves that children have every possibility when they are born, and that those who are nurtured by peace will be at peace themselves. If children are in a disadvantaged milieu that is not stimulating, if they are cold, then they will have anger within themselves. I very strongly believe that we will have a world of peace when we are at peace ourselves. A lot of people are entitled to be angry because of the conditions they were brought up in or have lived in. But we are not condemned to be angry. We have to help one another, acknowledging what has not been going on the right way within our lives and then helping each other have a better life. That is when anger will go and when peace will come.

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