An Atikamekw baby, Maxime Ottawa, who had been missing for decades and was buried far from his family in a cemetery in Quebec City, will finally be reburied in his home community of Manawan, in the Lanaudière region, and will be honoured with a ceremony. After a dozen years of research and efforts, Maxime’s family is experiencing “immense relief.” They were able to locate the site where he was buried, proceed with his exhumation, and confirm the identity of the remains. “On Oct. 26, 2026, Baby Maxime will finally come home to Manawan, to be with his mom and dad, and with his brothers and sisters,” said Manon Ottawa with great pride at a press conference on Thursday in Montreal. She is Baby Maxime’s niece; he was the brother of Ottawa’s father. “In 2014, four years after my father Henri’s death, I began a search—in accordance with his wishes—to find my uncle. I wanted to understand what had happened to him. (...) I wanted to know the truth,” Ottawa explained to the media. At six months old, in 1954, Baby Maxime was taken without his parents to La Tuque to receive medical care. He was then transferred to Quebec City, without his parents being informed. His parents did not learn of their child’s death until two years later, without having been able to see him one last time, hold a funeral, or give him a burial in accordance with their traditions and beliefs. He passed away on Oct. 5, 1954, after 43 days in the hospital, the family’s attorney, Olivia Malenfant, said Thursday. In October 2025, the Superior Court authorized the exhumation of “Bébé Maxime” after the family was able to locate, decades later, the site where he had been buried: Saint-Charles Cemetery in Quebec City. That same month, excavation work led to the exhumation of a set of remains. About a year later, on Sept. 30—National Truth and Reconciliation Day—laboratory tests confirmed that the remains were indeed those of Maxime Ottawa. “Receiving this confirmation on this very Day of Truth and Reconciliation gave it even deeper meaning in our history. Because reconciliation is not limited to words; it also involves the search for truth, healing from suffering, and respect for the dignity of our families,” Ottawa told reporters. Next Wednesday, the family plans a reburial in Manawan as part of a ceremony “worthy of his memory and the traditions of his community.” “The family will now be able to pay the respects that they and Baby Maxime were deprived of for more than 70 years,” said Olivia Malenfant. ‘Paving the Way’ The exhumation work carried out in October 2025 at Saint-Charles Cemetery was “complex,” as the plot where Baby Maxime was buried contained a total of five people, all Indigenous, Malenfant said. The adjacent plots also contained several bodies of Indigenous people. The lawyer could not say what the intentions of the other families of the deceased individuals were or whether any steps had been taken. Most of them were informed that their loved one had been buried there before the Ottawa family filed its petition with the Superior Court. “For many of them, this was news they were hearing for the first time. They didn’t even necessarily know that their loved one was buried in Quebec City—or, in some cases, that their loved one had even passed away,” said Malenfant. Manon Ottawa said she realized that her efforts had also “helped pave the way for other children and other families.” “To all the families who are still waiting to find their child, I want to send a message of hope: never lose hope; every child deserves to be found, every family deserves answers, and every story deserves to be heard,” she said. Ottawa and her family also received support from the Indigenous families’ association Awacak – Petits êtres de lumière. The association was able to confirm, in particular, that the autopsy performed on Baby Maxime had contributed to the advancement of medical science. The family requested that this be recorded in medical literature, a representative of the association stated. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 22, 2026. Frédéric Lacroix-Couture, The Canadian Press
