Granby girl was removed from school due to 'serious difficulties,' says school board
Education Minister says the child 'should have been taken by social services'
Speaking for the first time since the death of a seven-year-old girl in Granby, Que., the Val-des-Cerfs school board said the decision to remove the child from school was made in collaboration with the girl's family.
On Friday, Education Minister Jean-François Roberge said it was the school board that had pulled the girl out of classes and made arrangements to have her schooled at home, because she was having trouble in class.
But Éric Racine, director of the Val-des-Cerfs school board, told Radio-Canada the arrangement had been agreed upon by both the school and the girl's legal guardian.
Racine said the administration was in regular contact with the girl's family and social services, and that the girl had "serious difficulties."
"We have a duty to respect the parents' choice, however, we had an obligation to inform youth protection services case workers of the situation," he said.
Before the minister's comments, it was reported that the girl's father had initiated the decision to have her removed from classes and schooled at home.
Classes were to begin May 6
Racine said that in a recent meeting, the school offered the family two options: send the girl to school part-time or bring teachers into the home.
The final agreement, according to Racine, was that the girl would be taught at home by professionals employed by the school board.
Her first day of lessons at home was set to begin May 6.
Days earlier, on April 29, local police found the girl in critical condition at her father's home in Granby, 80 kilometres east of Montreal. The child was taken to hospital and remained in a coma until her death on Tuesday.
The girl's father, 30, has been charged with forcible confinement, and her stepmother, 35, has been charged with forcible confinement and aggravated assault. They are due back in court later this month.
CBC News is not naming them or anyone else related to the girl because of a court-ordered publication ban, to protect the child's identity.
The Quebec government has ordered a coroner's inquest into the girl's death — making it the fourth investigation into the case.
Apart from the ongoing criminal investigation by Quebec provincial police, two other investigations are now underway: one by the local health authority and another by the province's human and youth rights commission.
Speaking outside the National Assembly on Friday, Roberge said "the child should have been taken by social services."
"After the fact, it's easy to say that we should have done this or that, but I will let the investigators do their work," he said.
'A really difficult little girl'
CBC News obtained a copy of a recording of court proceedings relating to a previous incident in 2017 in which the girl's father described her to the judge as "a really difficult little girl."
The father said the girl would have "huge fits: we're talking howling; we're talking self-mutilation behaviours; peeing and pooping at any moment. She would sometimes spread her excrement on the walls."
The father said in court that he and the stepmother had made repeated calls for help to youth protection and social workers because of the girl's behavioural issues.
His mother, the girl's paternal grandmother, paints a different story.
She told Radio-Canada on Wednesday that she questioned her son's ability to care for the girl and said she had "fought for years — since 2015 — with the DPJ [youth protection authorities] to get her out of there."
She said she tried to tell youth protection it was a case of abuse, but "always got turned away."
The girl was exhibiting signs of psychological trauma, the grandmother said.
CBC is not naming the grandmother to protect the girl's identity.
A funeral for the girl will be held on Thursday at a church in Granby.
With files from Radio-Canada's Geneviève Proulx