Montreal mother remains detained, no new charges, after missing toddler was found safe in Ontario

Admin June 21, 2025

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“As of right now, it’s a person that’s in very high distress,” said defence lawyer Olivier Beliveau, referring to the mother of the three-year-old Montreal girl found safe in Ontario after being missing for over 72 hours. Adriana Gentile reports.

By Adriana Gentile

Posted June 20, 2025 12:58 pm.

Last Updated June 20, 2025 5:56 pm.

The mother of a three-year-old Montreal girl—who had been missing for more than 72 hours before being found alive on Wednesday afternoon along a highway in Ontario—was back in a Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courtroom on Friday for a short hearing.

She had been charged with unlawful abandonment of a child on Monday night, and no new charges were added. The maximum sentence for this charge is five years if convicted.

“We’re still receiving evidence. So we still looking at it. And if there’s something else, for sure, the Crown will take position on that,” said Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel about the possibility of more charges at some point.

The 34-year-old woman remains detained at a Laval detention facility. Judge Bertrand St-Arnaud also issued orders barring her from contacting either her daughter or the child’s father.

No psychological assessment has been requested by the defence at this time.

“As of right now, it’s a person that’s in very high distress. It’s somebody who needs help,” said the woman’s legal aid defence lawyer Olivier Béliveau before the hearing Friday—but no psychological assessment was requested in court.

Olivier Beliveau

Defence lawyer Olivier Beliveau at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on June 20, 2025. (Adriana Gentile, CityNews)

The woman walked into the courtroom around 11:48 a.m. She looked around and seemed overwhelmed before keeping her eyes on the judge, lowering her head for a few seconds, and slumping her shoulders. Her hair was down, and she was wearing a grey sweatshirt.

“Right now, the defence is trying to get an exit plan for her in order to get her help as soon as possible. And that’s pretty much where we’re at today. So there will not be any other comment at this point,” said Béliveau.

Crown prosecutor Prévost-Gravel confirmed the prosecution is opposing bail and that evidence disclosure is underway but will take time. The woman does not have a prior criminal record.

The court has set bail hearing dates for July 3 and 4.

“For now, because I don’t have all the evidence in my possession, I don’t want to take position,” said Prévost-Gravel when it came to a mental health evaluation or about the possibility down the line of bail, and the accused possibly receiving psychological support. “But it’s always a possibility that we examine. And I’m discussing with the defence attorney. And we keep in mind that, yes, for sure, she need help.”

Related: 3-year-old missing Montreal girl found safe in Ontario needs rest, privacy: Quebec police

Publication ban issued to protect child’s identity

The Crown requested a publication ban—preventing anyone from identifying the child publicly—and it was granted.

“Today we decided to ask for a publication ban, because the objective of the file has changed. At the beginning, we want to make sure that we can search and find the victim. But right now, we want to make sure that she have peace and no one publish anything about her on the media.”

“The father is the legal person in charge of [the child]. So I had to ask him the position with regard to this [ban]. And he wants to have peace and that the Crown has for this,” explained Prévost-Gravel.

Lili Prévost-Gravel

Crown prosecutor Lili Prévost-Gravel at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse on June 20, 2025. (Adriana Gentile, CityNews)

Valérie Assouline, an attorney in youth protection, stressed the importance of respecting the order—not only for legal reasons but also to protect the girl’s long-term well-being.

“It’s actually the law and it must be respected. So it’s important that the message passes through and it’s in the best interest of the child,” said Assouline. “When we were all worried about her, we published her picture and it was in solidarity… but right now what is asked of the population is to respect her privacy, respect her image.”

Assouline said continued sharing of the child’s image or name online could affect her long after the public attention fades.

“Imagine in a few months she’ll have to reintegrate daycare. You don’t want that little child to have her picture everywhere to be stigmatized. So this is why the population should remove every picture, her name from social media as soon as they know that there is that ban and that would be immediately to remove that. Because there is consequences. If you don’t, DYP could apply penal clauses and it’s important to respect that law. But it’s mostly important for her well-being.”

Child found alive, alone, and talked to police

The case prompted a large-scale search effort involving provincial police and volunteers across parts of southwestern Quebec. When investigators determined the mother had crossed into Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police launched a parallel operation.

On Wednesday afternoon, an OPP drone located the child walking alone along Highway 417—about 50 kilometres west of the Quebec border and 120 kilometres southwest of her Montreal home.

She was found alive and alert by OPP officers.

According to police, the mother had reported her daughter missing on Sunday at a business in Coteau-du-Lac, Quebec, saying she had no memory of the previous six hours or her daughter’s whereabouts.

Experience likely to have lasting impact on child

Assouline said the experience of being left alone for days would inevitably leave a mark on a child so young.

“Well, of course it could affect an adult. So imagine a three-year-old child and that will have an impact on her for sure,” said Assouline. “But I’m sure that now the youth protection will take care of her and her family because she has family, her father, and family members that will most certainly take care of that little child.”

She also addressed concerns about how the experience may affect the child psychologically and emotionally, particularly given the sudden separation from her mother.

“Well for sure there’s a traumatized from being left three days on your own when you’re a three-year-old. And then there’ll be the youth protection coming in, the mother that will not be in her life,” Assouline said. “We have to place ourselves in the little shoes of that little girl. She was with her mom on a daily basis from one day to the next. She doesn’t see her anymore. She doesn’t know where she is.”

Assouline explained that investigators are trained to speak to young children in a way that avoids re-traumatization.

“She will be interrogated by the police officers that know how to do this job very well. So I’m not concerned. They will most probably bring a dog in and to make her feel comfortable. And they will not put her in a little space and ask her questions like we do for criminals. But still the impact will certainly be important on that child.”

She said that’s why it’s essential the public respect the child’s privacy going forward.

“And that’s why it’s important to respect her privacy, not to have the pictures going around the internet. Because even if you have a picture and when she goes in daycare you may have teachers that will stick with that. We don’t want that to happen.”

Police urge public to stop sharing girl’s photo to protect her privacy

While tips from citizens in Quebec and Ontario—who widely shared the girl’s name and photo throughout the search—contributed to her being found, police asked the public on Thursday to help restore her anonymity.

“What she experienced as a child was a very difficult ordeal,” the SQ’s Jean Raphaël Drolet said in a video on the police force’s social media Thursday. “And what she needs right now is to rest, regain her strength, and also to return to anonymity. We’re counting on everyone right now to stop spreading her identity or posting photos or videos that could identify her.