Lawyers for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect Lev Tahor and the Chatham Children’s Services were back in a Chatham-Kent court Friday.
During a court hearing Friday afternoon, Justice Linda Templeton said she will make a decision on whether to uphold a ruling made in a Quebec court, or overturn the decision by next week. The ruling on Nov. 27 ordered 14 children into foster care, amid allegations of child neglect.
All of this, Templeton says, while ensuring “children are not lost in what has turned out to be a procedural nightmare.”
Templeton says the court’s job is to determine whether the legal obligation of parents is being met in the relationship with their children.
"In order to rehabilitate access is usually the vehicle by which we foster the relationship," she says. "I am going to ask for immediate access, extended access between parents and children. But because of the actions of the community - the access has to be supervised. Because I can trust you will take-off again."
Approximately 40 families with the Jewish group left Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., and relocated to Chatham in November.
"Your obligation is to raise your children the way this country has guaranteed children be raised," Templeton says.
A decision from Justice Stephen Fuerth in Chatham-Kent on Feb. 3, ordered the 14 children from the sect back to Quebec child services, pending a possible appeal. As part of the decision, the children were ordered to remain with their families and couldn’t leave Chatham-Kent until an appeal was made.
On March 5, 14 children and members of their families left Chatham-Kent. Since then, six children have been placed in the care of CAS in Ontario after leaving Canada for Trinidad and Tobago. Another two children involved in the case were apprehended in Calgary.
Six other children who left with their families for Guatemala remain in that country.
An emergency hearing by a provincial court judge will be heard Tuesday to discuss full access, with Judge Templeton rendering a decision on Wednesday.
