Montreal — It has been two weeks since a Quebec judge ordered the immediate removal of 14 children from the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor.
But Ontario officials still have not executed the judgment made in St-Jérôme’s youth court. Formerly based in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, most members of the 250-person community fled to Chatham, Ont., in November ahead of a youth court date.
A court hearing held in their absence on Nov. 27. ruled that the children — who range in age from a 3-month-old infant to its 16-year-old mother — be temporarily placed in foster care immediately and be re-evaluated after 30 days.
The judge ordered members of the sect not to communicate with the children, and for communication with their parents to be supervised by Quebec’s youth protection services.
Because of a publication ban, testimony heard in court about the conditions within the sect can’t be made public. However, a committee in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, heard children were hit with iron bars, denied food and forced to take psychiatric pills. Former members of the sect also told the committee about children as young as 14 forced into marriage. The minimum legal age of marriage in Canada is 16.
Ontario and Quebec youth protection services have held several daylong conference calls since the judgment was rendered, but so far the children have not been extricated.
David Ouellette, public affairs director at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Montreal, said the orthodox families who volunteered to provide foster care for the children were told to get ready for their arrival.
“I think it’s safe to say people are anxious to get some sort of closure on this,” Ouellette said. “We’re confident it will happen.”
He said he heard last week Ontario child protection officials were in the process of getting an Ontario court to validate the Quebec judgment.
On Tuesday, several sect members were still in Ste-Agathe.
Speaking for the community by phone, Yoil Weingarten said the sect doesn’t recognize the Quebec judgment.
“Those families don’t live in Quebec, they live in Ontario,” he said. “Quebec has no power to remove the children. And look: two weeks have passed and the children are still at home.”
Weingarten said the members who fled did so because the community, which home-schools its children, doesn’t agree with Quebec’s curriculum requirements.
Weingarten said the court order is further invalid because the families affected were not present at the hearing.
“They couldn’t say the real story,” he said.
Weingarten said the sect will appeal the Quebec judgment.
The lawyer for the families in question, Armenia Teixeira, didn’t return The Gazette’s calls on Tuesday.