Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans
A judge has ordered members of an extremist ultra-Orthodox
sect to return to Quebec for a court hearing on allegations of child neglect.
The members of Lev Tahor, or Pure Heart, left their homes in
Ste. Agathe in Quebec early last week, reportedly out of fear that Canadian
welfare authorities would take their children.
Canadian media reported over the weekend that the group of
200, including more than 130 children, would make its home in Chatham-Kent, a
southwestern Ontario town of 108,000, several hundred miles from Quebec. Many
of the families have already leased homes in the community, the Star reported.
Two of the 40 families have been ordered to return for a
hearing with child protection officials on Wednesday, the Toronto Star reported
Monday. The families will return for the hearing, Nachman Helbrans, son of the
community’s leader, told the newspaper.
Sect members told Canadian media that they made the move due
to a dispute with education authorities in Quebec over the curriculum they were
being required to teach the children, who are home schooled, including subjects
such as evolution.
The sect was concerned that the children would be placed in
foster care, The Star reported over the weekend.
The sect, led by Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, reportedly
uses extreme violence and mind control. Most of its members are Israeli-born
with Canadian-born children.
Quebec youth protection services told the Canadian
Broadcasting Corp. that there are concerns that the children were neglected.
The children were reportedly forced to live in the homes of families other than
their own for punishments.
Youth protection officials had been scheduled to meet in
court with sect members the day after the group fled their homes, according to
the CBC.
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