By The Canadian Press

Montreal mom charged with abandoning daughter ‘needs help,’ to remain detained

Jun 20, 2025 | 10:59 AM

MONTREAL — The Montreal mother who allegedly abandoned her three-year-old daughter in rural Ontario, triggering a four-day hunt for the child across two provinces, will remain detained until her bail hearing early next month.

On Friday, the mother’s legal-aid lawyer said he will try to have his client released pending the outcome of the criminal case, adding that he is working on a plan to get her the help she needs. The 34-year-old woman faces one count of unlawful abandonment of a child, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

“Right now, we are currently dealing with someone who is experiencing immense distress,” Olivier Béliveau told reporters about his client at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse, west of Montreal.

“This is someone who needs help.”

The accused, whose name is under a publication ban to protect the identity of the three-year-old, is alleged to have abandoned the girl in Casselman, Ont., on Sunday afternoon. Following an intense search by police and volunteers, she was spotted four days later by an Ontario Provincial Police drone along Highway 417 about 50 kilometres west of the Quebec boundary.

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Lawyers set hearing dates of July 3 and July 4 for the woman’s bail hearing. In addition to ordering a publication ban on the accused’s name, Quebec court Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud also signed off on Friday on an order preventing her from contacting the three-year-old or the girl’s father.

The accused will remain detained at the Leclerc detention centre in Laval, north of Montreal. The defence has so far not requested a psychological assessment for her. No additional charges were laid during the 15-minute hearing on Friday.

The Crown has said it opposes bail for the woman, who doesn’t have a criminal record.

Prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel told the court that disclosure of the evidence has started but will take some time.

The mother reported her daughter missing on Sunday at a business in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., west of Montreal, and told police she had no recollection of the previous six hours or the toddler’s whereabouts.

Provincial police and volunteer search teams spent days combing the roadside and forests in part of southwestern Quebec before figuring out the accused had travelled to Ontario.

The girl was found alive and conscious by Ontario Provincial Police officers who had started their own search.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press