A Lev Tahor family in Chatham, Ont., is in court Wednesday, hoping to be reunited with its four children. The children were among those who fled Canada to Trinidad and Tobago in early March in violation of a court order, just days before a judge was to decide whether the children should be sent back to Quebec as part of a child-welfare probe.
Above right: Lev Tahor cult women wearing burkas
QMI and the Calgary Sun reports:
CHATHAM, Ont. — A Lev Tahor family in Chatham, Ont., is in court Wednesday, hoping to be reunited with its four children.
The children were among those who fled Canada to Trinidad and Tobago in early March, just days before a judge was to decide whether the children should be sent back to Quebec as part of a child-welfare probe.
The couple's four children have been living in foster homes in the Toronto area.
About 200 members of the ultra-orthodox Jewish sect left their homes near Montreal in November 2013 to settle in Chatham, where community leaders hoped Ontario's education regulations would be less strict and allow their religious home-schooling.
They also hoped to evade Quebec authorities, who maintain allegations of child neglect and abuse, which have not been proven in court.
The Lev Tahor cult is accused of abusing its children emotionally, sexually and physically.
The cult is headed by convicted kidnapper Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans.
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