Chatam-Kent, Ontario — A judge has ordered child-protection officials to use the resources of police and the Canada Border Services Agency to apprehend 14 child members of the ultraorthodox Lev Tahor sect, after most of the children left the country in advance of a court hearing.
The children are the subject of a court proceeding in Ontario. The judge’s order to seize them applies to three families within the controversial Jewish sect, who were prohibited from leaving the country. The judge directed that the children be placed in the temporary care of Chatham-Kent Children's Services.
Chatham-Kent police, who are leading the apprehension effort, said that 12 of the children in the order have left the country. The location of the other two remains unknown. As of Thursday afternoon, no children have been apprehended.
Police are also consulting with the Crown attorney's office and other agencies to determine “if any violations of provincial and/or federal statutes may be applicable,” according to a statement from Const. Renee Cowell, spokeswoman for Chatham-Kent police.
Earlier this week, authorities in Trinidad and Tobago stopped nine members of the sect at the airport as they were on the way to Guatemala. The sect members were offered a flight back to Toronto but refused, insisting they want to go to Guatemala.
Sect spokesman Uriel Goldman offered little information on the whereabouts of the children, the nature of their flight or why they do not want to return to Canada.
“You'll have to ask them why they don't want to go back to Canada. I can assume why they don't want to go back to Canada . . . Because they're afraid probably, the same reason probably why they left. My guess is — I cannot talk on their behalf at all — my guess is that they understand they have to pay the price for the community. All allegations in the last two years, investigation just about the community. They felt they have to pay the price with no reason for that,” said Goldman.
He would not say why they chose Guatemala.
“Again you have to ask them. They planned this,” he said.
Goldman described them as good parents and said that the sect is being unfairly targeted by children's aid.
“I cannot say any word about the families. I can only say about the community. We feel persecuted. We said it in the beginning, this family, they are just victims. It is a war against the community,” he said.
On the day news of the sect's arrival in Trinidad broke, an appeal into an Ontario court order upholding the Quebec order to remove 14 children from the sect was scheduled to be held. That appeal was delayed for an emergency motion by Loree Hodgson-Harris, counsel for the children’s services organization, that resulted in the apprehension order of Superior Court of Justice Judge Lynda Templeton.
Templeton's order allows child-protection officials to utilize the services of the Ontario Provincial Police, Canadian Border Services, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Peel Regional Police, whose jurisdiction includes Pearson airport.
A ruling from Templeton confirmed that some of the children subject to the court proceeding fled the country.
“Information had been received by (Chatham-Kent Children's Services) that some of the children subject to this order were in fact no longer in the country,” she wrote. “The safety and protection of these children were the subject of the emergency motion before me.”
The identities of the children and parents are subject to a publication ban. In the documents, individuals are identified by initials. At the time of the appeal, there were 13 children concerned rather than the 14 subject to the Quebec order because one, who was also a mother, had turned 17 and was no longer a child under Ontario law. It is unclear whether she is a part of the emergency order.
Goldman said many of those who left the country are not Canadian citizens but Israeli and American.
Canadian embassy officials met Thursday with authorities from Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of National Security, which handles immigration, in regard to Lev Tahor members in the country, according to a ministry statement. It is not yet known what resulted from the meeting.
The group refused to go back to Canada and continued to attempt to negotiate travel to Guatemala through a lawyer, the statement says.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that one Canadian citizen was denied entry to the country. The Star learned that, among nine who travelled to Trinidad, at least one adult is involved in the court appeal.
Trinidad’s Ministry of National Security said the group of six children and three adults arrived Monday.
“They were interviewed by immigration authorities who discovered inconsistencies in their responses,” says the statement. Their passports were taken by Trinidad and Tobago immigration authorities.
Inquiries sent Thursday to the press secretary of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, were redirected to the Department of Justice.
“With respect to this particular case, as extradition requests are confidential, state to state communications, our office cannot confirm or deny the existence of any such request,” said Paloma Aguilar, press secretary to Minister of Justice Peter MacKay.
The reasons for Templeton's order, the nature of the emergency motion and the hearing that led to the order were kept secret because the media was barred from attending the proceeding. The Toronto Star, along with other media outlets, attempted to contest the secrecy but were denied the opportunity. A lawyer for the media is currently reviewing the case.
The Canadian High Commission of Trinidad and Tobago declined to comment on the matter.
The developments follow a long court saga that began when the group was in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec. The province's child-protection officials documented what they said was evidence of abuse, underage marriage and a substandard education regime. The group fled Quebec ahead of a court order calling for the removal of 14 children to foster care for 30 days.
The sect has categorically denied all allegations of wrongdoing. They insist that a campaign is being waged against them by the government and child-protection authorities.
An Ontario judge upheld the order, but placed a stay on it to allow time for an appeal. That appeal was scheduled to be heard March 5, but was interrupted by the emergency motion.
Chatham-Kent police and children's services workers visited homes belonging to Lev Tahor members late Wednesday night, saying they were there because of a “court order.” Officers on-scene would not discuss the nature of the visit with media. At the homes, they told residents they were looking for children. At some of the homes where nobody was present, the landlord unlocked the door for the teams.
According to Goldman, the police searched the homes, including inside freezers and dryers, for children subject to the order.
No children were apprehended in the visits.
The appeal has been rescheduled for April 4.