9 Haredi Lev Tahor Cult Members Forcibly Returned To Canada

Escorted by authorities, nine Lev Tahor members landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Saturday at 10:30 p.m.. The six children in that group were immediately placed in the care of the Children's Aid Society.

 

File photo: Unidentified Lev Tahor girls

The Canadian Press reports:

TORONTO -- Police say nine members of a fringe Jewish sect who left the country amid child custody proceedings only to be stopped in Trinidad and Tobago have now been returned to Canada.

Peel Police Sgt. Dave Housdon says the Lev Tahor members landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport Saturday at 10:30 p.m. and the six children were placed in the care of the Children's Aid Society.

Housdon said the three adults were being processed by the Canada Border Services Agency.

At least two Lev Tahor families left Canada for Guatemala last week, but some of them were stopped in Trinidad.

Early last week, an Ontario judge issued an emergency order that 14 Lev Tahor children be placed in the care of children's aid but police said Thursday that most of the children had left the country.

About 200 members of the sect -- 114 of them children -- settled in Chatham, Ont., last year after suddenly uprooting from Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que.

Child-welfare authorities in Quebec spent a year investigating issues related to hygiene, health, and allegations that the children weren't learning according to the provincial curriculum.

Late last year, a Quebec court ordered that 14 Lev Tahor children be placed in foster care.

The group has denied all allegations of mistreatment.

At least two other Lev Tahor children are still missing and are thought to have been illegally transported to New York State with an unknown number of Lev Tahor adults.

The nine Lev Tahor members returned to Canada last night illegally fled the country last in defiance of a Canadian court order after it became clear that child welfare authorities would remove at least 13 children from abusive Lev Tahor homes.

Comments

[S M L]

Probably hiding in KJ or Monsey or in the Satmar warrens in Brooklyn. They'll turn up. At least six of the kids are safe from the cult now.

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

I certainly hope the Canadian authorities revoke the passports of everyone in that cult....

[Alter Kocker]

Canada does not let court cases bog down. As I have said, we do not elect our judges. There are no special interest groups to which a jurist must pay attention in order to stay in office. CAS-the Children's Aid Society, which is an agency of the provincial government apprehended the children and as a result, they will be thoroughly examined, given medical treatment, be placed in orthodox homes (our system is extremely sensitive to religious and cultural backgrounds and will strive at all times to ensure continuity) they will be placed in one of our orthodox schools.(again, schools in Ontario, whether they be Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or Christian are subject to inspections and uniform tests which are administered by the Ministry of Education).

In short, their lives will improve significantly. The authorities will be questioning the children carefully in the presence of Crown prosecutors and defense solicitors. Their stories will be the basis of the possible prosecutions.

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

AK------> Where in Canada do you reside? I'm actually planning on visiting Nunavut later on this year.

[EileenK]

Alter, would you be offended if I call you naive. In the United States when older children (teens) are taken into foster care, years pass (if the family does not fill reunification requirements.). In the United States there is a 22 month clock that starts running. The child must be in foster care for fifteen of those twenty-two months before social services can even begin to file to sever parental rights. Meanwhile, if the child reaches the age of fourteen in New York State (and some other states), he or she can stop the termination of parental rights simply by asking it to be stopped. And for the oldest children (the fifteen year old for example), he or she ages out of the system. They all do eventually, and then you can guess what they do....

I don't know if they deprogram kids, but right now I'm thinking of all the children taken from that ranch in Texas into foster care and then after two weeks and the work of the ACLU returned to their polygamous, fundamentalist, Mormon families.

In short, I'm not as sanguine as you.

[MM]

EileenK, you cannot say "in the United States" and then make blanket statements about the foster care system, termination of parental rights, placement/adoption policies, etc. Each state has its own laws and protocols, and they vary quite a bit. I can, however, say that in many, if not most (or even all), states the foster care system is a disgrace much in need of reformation.

[EileenK]

MM, ASFA (which is the law that includes the 22 month clock) is federal so it applies everywhere. Teens being able to stop termination is a New York State law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_and_Safe_Families_Act

[EileenK]

PS, I'm not sure if Canada has a law similar to ASFA, but there probably is a clock that has to run so that the parents can try to get their kids back etc.... And in Canada teens also age out.