MONTREAL — The mother of two deceased boys whose father is accused of killing them is seeking $2 million from the Quebec government, alleging youth protection services failed her family.
In a lawyer’s letter dated Friday, Émilie Arsenault accused Quebec’s youth protection service of failing to act despite the fact the agency had been allegedly contacted three times prior to her children’s deaths.
The letter addressed to the Health Department and the regional authority responsible for youth protection said the provincial agency had been alerted by a hospital worker, provincial police and the mother, between May 2018 and January 2020.
Valérie Assouline, the lawyer representing Arsenault, says youth protection workers did not visit the family at home after any of the calls, adding that the protection service decided to close the files involving the family without taking further action. The system, she says, needs to be held responsible for its failures.
“I don’t think the kids should have to pay with their lives because the system was not working,” she said Monday in a phone interview.
The bodies of Olivier, 5, and Alex, 2, were found Oct. 13, 2020, in a home in Wendake, Que., a Huron-Wendat First Nation territory near Quebec City.
Their father, Michaël Chicoine, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
The details involving what led to the calls to youth protection are subject to a publication ban due to the ongoing court process.
In the letter, the mother said the “wilful blindness of the entire system cost Olivier and Alex their lives” and caused irreparable harm to both the children and their mom.
The Health Department on Monday declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal process.
Assouline represents other families in similar circumstances, including the mother of a seven-year-old girl from Granby, Que., whose 2019 death triggered a widespread re-examination of province’s youth protection system. A commission on children’s rights and youth protection released a 552-page report last May, saying the girl’s death was a collective failure of Quebec society.
Assouline said junior health minister Lionel Carmant was “very aware” of the problems in the youth protection system, but didn’t act quickly enough.
“The lack of training of the case workers,” she said. “(Carmant) was aware of the delays that were unreasonable. He had to act immediately.”
Assouline said the system underplays allegations of intimate partner violence, often categorizing it as a “parental conflict” instead of the risk factor it is.
She said she recognizes the $2 million her client is asking for is a higher figure than is usually demanded in such cases, but she said an “exemplary” judgment is needed to ensure a similar situation never happens again. Arsenault, she added, is well aware that no amount of money can bring back her children.
“She’s not necessarily doing (this) for a question of money, but a question of imputability, of making sure someone is responsible for failing to protect the children,” Assouline said.
“Because she tried to. What more could she do?”
Assouline said that if the government doesn’t respond to the letter, the next step is to file a lawsuit.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2022.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
