Two tragedies in one

Wendake. Two children, 2 and 5, murdered. A man, Michaël Chicoine, accused of second degree murder. The Youth Protection Department (DPJ), pointed out.

She reportedly received at least three reports, but did nothing. Still children among many others, escaped by the “system”. As for the girl from Granby, young lives cut short because they have not been protected by those whose mission it is.

It is in fact the story of two tragedies in one. The first – the murder of two children. The second – the abandonment of the accused by another “system”, that of health, before he takes action.

Double abandonment

In a heartbreaking letter, the mother of the accused, Mylène Chicoine, tells the story. Suffering from serious depression problems, her son never received the care he needed. Not even after a suicide attempt.

“God knows he asked for help several times,” she wrote. You might as well cry out in the desert. She says that no place was “available for him at the Quebec mental health university institute or at the Quebec crisis center”. Any.

“His family doctor did everything to get him the right help, but the doors have closed,” she adds. Closed. “The only follow-up he got was a phone call […] from a psychiatrist, which call lasted barely ten minutes. The specialist then prescribed medication for him, without further consultation. ” Ten minutes.

Mess

None of this exonerates him from what he is accused of. This double tragedy nevertheless shines the spotlight on the culture of neglect installed at the DPJ and the virtual impossibility of obtaining rapid and sustained monitoring for the public in psychiatry or psychology.

The result ? The death of two boys. Their mother and grandparents destroyed. A traumatized community. No investigation will cure them or bring these children back to life.

Once again, the urgency of reforming the DPJ and finally giving people access to sustained psychological care is obvious to us. Such a waste !