The death of two Montreal youth workers has sent 'shock waves' through system

Montreal confirms dozens of variant cases While Montreal’s COVID-19 cases have plateaued, officials say they have found variants on the island.

MONTREAL — The deaths of two young workers working at the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) in Montreal earlier this week has hit the staff of the institution hard.

According to information published in La Presse, they are two young women aged 23 and 26, and that they died by suicide.

CIUSSS du Center-Sud-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal president and CEO Sonia Belanger offered her condolences on Wednesday during a news conference to the relatives of the victims and to the teams "who are greatly affected" by this tragedy.

"We are absolutely devastated by this terrible news which creates a significant shock wave in our establishment," she said.

Montreal director of public health Dr. Mylene Drouin added her condolences during the news conference.

Belanger said that psychosocial teams are available to offer continuous support to relatives of the two young women, as well as to employees of the DPJ.

"We know that youth protection has received a lot of media coverage over the past year and these two deaths have created a certain commotion in our large community," said Belanger, adding that she would not make any further comments since the Montreal police (SPVM) is investigating this matter.

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 10, 2021.