ONTARIO AUTHORITIES ARE SLOW IN DEALING WITH LEV TAHOR AND QUEBEC COURT'S RULING

The judge in Quebec may have ruled the children should be removed from Lev Tahor's custody, but so far, the authorities in Ontario are slow to act:

MONTREAL—Ontario child protection authorities visited members of the radical Jewish Lev Tahor sect Thursday, one day after a judge's order that 14 children from the community should be taken into foster care.

Nachman Helbrans, a member of the group and the son of Lev Tahor's spiritual leader, Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, said in a brief telephone conversation with the Toronto Star on Thursday afternoon that investigators with Chatham-Kent Children's Services were at his door. He did not talk about the reason for their visit.

But two weeks after the runaway ultra-orthodox sect fled their base in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., as well as an ongoing child welfare investigation, there is pressure on the Children's Aid Society in Chatham-Kent to take the children into protective custody.

So far, though, local officials are refusing to say if or how they will respond to the ruling of Quebec Youth Court Judge Pierre Hamel, who ordered the 14 children, ranging in age from two months to 16 years, into foster care.

“Chatham-Kent Children’s Services is in communication with Quebec authorities and co-operating with joint planning,” said a spokesperson for the agency, Shelly Thibert. “No further comments will be made at this time.”

That isn't good enough. Are the Ontario authorities going to remove the children from that vile group's clutches or not?