The last remaining families with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect, Lev Tahor, have fled Chatham-Kent.
The executive director of Chatham-Kent Children Services tells CTV Windsor that five remaining Lev Tahor families, along with approximately 30 children, left the municipality in the early hours of the morning on Aug. 27.
Stephen Doig says their departure was similar to when 40 families left Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que. for Chatham-Kent in November of 2013 – leaving behind personal effects.
In July, several sect members and their families left Chatham for Guatemala. It followed months of child custody hearings between parents and CKCS.
“CKCS does not know where the families are – we have no means of determining if they have left Canada, although one assumes their goal would be to re-unite with the larger part of the Lev Tahor community in Guatemala,” Doig says.
With none of the families or children in the Chatham jurisdiction, all files CKCS owns will be closed.
