Montreal Toddler Missing, Mother Charged

GrumpyCanadian · 2025-06-18T01:34:31+00:00

This one is a truly tragic story. On Sunday, an apparently-frantic mother entered a store in Coteau-du-Lac, and said that her daughter was missing, and she didn’t remember what happened. One store employee called 9-1-1. The child had apparently last been seen in the area near her home around Newman Blvd (yes, it is Boulevard, not Avenue) in the LaSalle borough of Montreal; one of the buildings shown on the CTV report is creatively named “Le Newman”. It is a very recent (and expensive) development, though it’s not clear if they lived there or were vising (or if the reporter just used that footage). In fact, I was in that area Sunday morning, but we were paying more attention to an idiot in a Nissan who nearly caused multiple accidents, weaving (almost drunkenly, maybe playing with a phone or device while driving) from one lane to the next. The fact that she posted a video on social media, that was confirmed to be her account, in which she threateningly says, “you try that again and this is going to get ugly!”, while holding the child (but snarling into the camera, as if intending to threaten a particular viewer), to me (with no legal qualifications) suggests pre-meditation, and I would expect will cost her any chance of being found not-criminally-responsible. She was arrested on Tuesday, charged with child abandonment, as the search for the toddler continues. A dog, believed to have been with the toddler, was found dead at the side of the highway. Work was still underway to confirm that it was the same dog. I don’t know what to say; what kind of reprehensible person uses a child as a pawn in a domestic dispute or lovers’ quarrel? Mother charged with child abandonment as search for missing Quebec toddler continues

GrumpyCanadian

px_eliezer_ Given that this whole thing (other than the locations they visited, and where she dumped the child) is taking place in Quebec, don’t make too many bets. There have been a few recent examples where supposedly “protective” services have spectacularly failed the youngsters they were supposed to be helping.

On the topic of “keeping families together”, she is with her father. It is unclear to me if she was ever married to the father of the child, or if her ex-husband was a different person, from whom she is now divorced. Unless the child’s father is also nuts — and we have no evidence to support such an accusation so far, other than the fact that he was involved with her — that is probably the best place for her.

The child now needs support and treatment of her own, after that ordeal. I can only hope that they consider the possible consequences very carefully before they ever even think of permitting her near that child again, and then, only if the father and child consent.

GrumpyCanadian

px_eliezer_ She was dumped at the side of a highway; told to wait for mommy’s return in a field of tall grass/weeds. Keep in mind that it wasn’t even clear that she was in Ontario at first. It wasn’t until a few nearby residents saw the coverage and reported having seen them that the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) became involved. The search had previously been restricted to Quebec, particularly in areas near the store where she made the report, then branching out.

I don’t think people would have thought to look, and at three years old, I’m not sure she would have been taller than the vegetation. She may have been quite difficult to spot. She was eventually found by the OPP using a drone, rather than having been spotted visually, from the ground. There were pictures in the earlier articles.

GrumpyCanadian

The judge has decided that she will remain at the Institute for now, agreeing that she is still a danger to the public, and they will re-evaluate her “progress” in 90 days. From the article:

Her file will be handed over to Quebec’s review board for mental disorders which will become responsible for determining if, when and how she should be discharged.

The board will review her case in 90 days, just before Christmas, and could decide to release her depending on her mental state and progress.

For now, there is a possibility of occasional unsupervised outings, with restrictions against contact with the toddler or her father, as well as unsupervised Internet access.

Quebec mother who abandoned toddler in field will remain in psychiatric hospital

It is unsettling that there is any possibility of a pre-holiday release. I shudder to think about how that might devolve.

Depending on how the toddler progresses with her treatment, I wonder how she will feel about Mommy going forward. If she is well enough to enter pre-school or kindergarten on time in a couple of years, I wonder if Mommy Dearest won’t have an episode and try to manipulate the child; as in “Daddy is busy at work; he told me to pick you up.” sort of mess. I really hope they know what they’re doing, especially in the case of unsupervised outings and eventual release; this could end tragically.

Somewhat-Reticent

And if she attacks child or ex, will they sternly shake a finger and frown at her?

Hydraglass

Somewhat-Reticent Your list neglected bathroom issues.

I didn’t want to get gross in my depiction - the article did a good job mentioning her diaper condition, sores, infection from being dirty and wet - I would just leave that in the “discomfort and pain” section of my line of thoughts I think.

At the end of the day that was just yet another point of suffering for the poor child.

Hydraglass

GrumpyCanadian If she is well enough to enter pre-school or kindergarten on time in a couple of years, I wonder if Mommy Dearest won’t have an episode and try to manipulate the child; as in “Daddy is busy at work; he told me to pick you up.” sort of mess.

This is my biggest worry for her future. I envision a West end of Montreal Amber Alert in our near future if the mom is left to “roam freely”.

Edit to add
I had missed this part at the end of the article (I read it on desktop and it was below an ad), I think this does speak a lot to how those who are spending time directly in the situation are handling it

Speaking outside the courtroom Tuesday afternoon, Crown attorney Prévost-Gravel said it’s a good thing the woman will continue to receive treatment.

“Everybody was involved emotionally,” she said. “The judge is a human being and I think it’s fair to give hope to an accused even if she’s done something really impossible.”

The crown attorney even seems to see hope for the mom, that she’s just broken and needs help. I tend to agree, I just in my own version of the world, hope and wish for the little girl to be safe and secure and hopefully with time return to a semi-normal life with a bright future.

Thane_Bitter

GrumpyCanadian Funny, while her behavior was unhinged had she just openly tried to kill the kid she probably would be out on bail, the crazy factor is the only thing keeping her away from the rest of us. I note this because of late Ontario has had a number of repeat offenders already been arrested for other crimes and had been released with conditions only to be accused (frankly they did it, the evidence is considerable) of doing more crimes including attempted murder and other things.

The only way she will continue taking her medication is if its forced on her, we have seen the effects of allowing people with the same disorder go free and it doesn’t end well. The majority of people with that disease can managed their own care and lives and will do so without a single slip up but I do think that those which have a history require more authoritarian oversight because they have illustrated by their own actions they are a risk and they can’t stop themselves.

Somewhat-Reticent

Thane_Bitter those which have a history

Do the rest suddenly pop into existence as adults?

Thane_Bitter

Somewhat-Reticent Clinically and typically the disease manifests in peoples 20 -30s, (ie the early adult years) so in a way they do (just like with other adult-onset related ailments). However the comment I made was in reference to those diagnosed with it and that have had psychiatric episodes which required emergency intervention due to violence, threats or self harm. Of those with schizophrenia the rate of having such an episode as described above is rare (roughly 2-20% with much of that range due to the various ways violence and behavior is measured). In short she already dove into the deep end of things and that isn’t a good sign.

In case her history might suggest she has had a number of incidents and seem to be getting worse, it may be that with the right conditions she can be managed and controlled and will not cause harm or threaten to do harm to her kid but they haven’t reached that point yet. The judge was logical about his ruling, as slow as the legal system is dealing with complex medical issues can take even more time.

The TLDR is we don’t know yet at this point what sort of treatment she requires, it may be simple or she might need to be minded to prevent future episodes but given the past events of what she did the latter seems more appropriate.

GrumpyCanadian

Thane_Bitter Now that you raise that point, conditions can evolve over time. If they decide that she has made sufficient progress, and agree that she should be released at some point, I would hope that it’s conditional on regular re-checks, both to make sure she is faithfully carrying out her treatment regimen, and to evaluate her condition. With time, perhaps she would benefit from more/less/different medication. Just saying, “You’re fine now; you’ve made a lot of progress. Just keep taking these as prescribed, and you’ll feel better.”, and setting her out on her own sounds like a recipe for relapse and potential tragedy. As we have seen in the news repeatedly, sometimes they have the onsets of a relapse, then decide not to take the medication at all, and it spirals out of control from there.

Somewhat-Reticent

Automatic tracking & medication may help.

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