Toddlers removed from sect
Two children from the Lev Tahor sect have been placed in foster care in Ontario. Jason Magder reports officials will be in court Tuesday seeking to have the children brought back to Quebec.
Allegations of abuse have prompted Ontario authorities to remove two toddlers from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that lived in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts for 10 years until members fled to Ontario last month.
A source close to the Lev Tahor community, who did not wish to be named, said the children — a brother and sister who are under 5 years old — were taken to a hospital in Windsor last week. After a doctor there reported he suspected they were being abused, the children were placed in a foster home in Ontario last Thursday.
David Ouellette, public affairs director at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Montreal, said he couldn’t confirm specific details about the children, but said the community has been alerted that two children were removed f rom their families on Thursday over allegations of abuse. He said that according to Ontario’s procedures, a court hearing must be held within five days of the removal.
“We’re very disturbed,” Ouellette said.
Ouellette said the children were placed into an emergency foster family whose members aren’t Jewish and don’t speak Yiddish, which is the mother tongue of most of the Lev Tahor community members.
A hearing on Tuesday in Ontario will determine whether the children will be sent back to Quebec.
Speaking for Lev Tahor, community member Yoil Weingarten said he couldn’t
The children were placed with a family whose members aren’t Jewish and don’t speak Yiddish.
comment on the case because it is a Youth Court matter.
Quebec Youth protection officials have alleged that children in the Lev Tahor community suffer malnutrition and extreme neglect.
This isn’t the first time that children have been ordered removed from the community. Last year, five children from one family were ordered into foster care after their father, Nathan Helbrans, the son of the sect’s founder, Shlomo Helbrans, left the community.
Last month, a Quebec Youth Court judge ordered the removal of 14 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 16 years old. Testimony heard during the hearing, held in St-Jérôme, can’t be reported because of a publication ban. The 14 children remain with their families because most members of the sect fled the province ahead of a court date. They travelled by bus from their homes in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, 100 kilometres northwest of Montreal, to Chatham, Ont., about nine hours away.
Sect members say they didn’t leave because of the court date, and that the trip had been planned for several months.
A warrant to execute the Quebec Court order was refused by an Ontario judge — a decision that will be appealed next week.
Ouellette said he hopes this latest news will put pressure on Ontario officials to execute the Quebec order.
Members of the Jewish community in Montreal and the Laurentians have come forward to offer homes for the 14 children. Their needs are very specific because they live in isolation, speak Yiddish and have very strict customs.