Quebec’s human and youth rights commission is investigating two separate cases in the Greater Montreal area where fathers were accused of killing their children in the last month.
The two independent probes will specifically look into whether the rights of the young victims were violated.
“The investigation aims to verify whether the alleged facts are true and whether the rights of the four children have been respected,” the commission said in a statement Wednesday.
“It also aims to ensure that measures are taken so that the situation does not happen again.”
The investigation comes on the heels of the deaths of a 11-year-old boy and his 13-year-old sister earlier this week on the city’s north shore. Laval police were called to the family home in the Ste-Dorothée neighbourhood Monday evening, where they discovered the siblings.
Kamaljit Arora, their 45-year-old father, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of strangulation of his wife. He was arrested and taken to hospital, but has yet to appear in court due to “the state of his health.”
The commission will also investigate the deaths of two young victims on Montreal’s south shore from late September.
Mohamad Al Ballouz, 36, has been charged with multiple counts of murder and one count of arson in the deaths of his wife and their two children, ages two and five. Local authorities were responding to a fire at their residential building, where the three victims were found inside the apartment.
Quebec’s human and youth rights commission says the progress of its probe will not be made public. It will not publicly release conclusions or recommendations about the individual files of the children.
The organization will also not comment on the cases.
“At the end of this investigation, the commission may make public the systemic recommendations, if any,” commission said.
— With files from Global News’ Felicia Parrillo and The Canadian Press
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