For more than a year, Jennifer Russell has been president of the board of directors of Montreal’s Native daycare centre.
She is also wanted by Toronto police.
Russell, 32, has an outstanding bench warrant for her arrest after failing to appear in court to face an assault charge, according to Toronto police and court officials.
She was charged on August 19, 1996, with a single count of assault after an alleged altercation in Toronto, said Sgt. Jim Muscat, of the Toronto Police Service.
“She hasn’t appeared for her charge,” said Muscat.
An official at Toronto’s Metro East courthouse said the bench warrant was issued after Russell failed to appear for a Jan. 6, 1997, court hearing.
Reached at the Centre à la Petite Enfance Awasis daycare centre on Notre-Dame St., Russell refused to discuss the warrant or charge.
“I have no comment on this,” she said. Russell said any questions should be put in writing and addressed to the centre’s board of directors.
When we called back later to get the centre’s fax number, a man asked who was calling, then hung up the phone.
Russell later wrote back saying our letter would be brought up at the next board meeting.
But Russell doesn’t have to worry about being arrested in Montreal. Toronto police and court officials said the warrant only applies in an 80-kilometre radius of Toronto.
“We won’t return her,” said Sgt. Muscat.
Officials at Health Canada, which provides much of the Awasis centre’s funding, were surprised when they heard of the arrest warrant.
Pauline Tardiff, a consultant at Health Canada, said the Awasis centre should have informed the federal health ministry that Russell is wanted by police.
“I find it serious. We will definitely ask them about this. We will confront them,” said Tardif, who works with the Aboriginal Head Start Program.
The program funds 15 Native daycare centres across Quebec.
Tardiff said Health Canada policy requires daycare centres to do background checks on employees for criminal charges and outstanding arrest warrants.
She also said Health Canada officials would hold a special meeting with the centre to demand an explanation.
But when we called back to find out what happened at the meeting, Tardif said she could no longer speak with us.
She referred us to her boss, Suzette Jeannotte, coordinator of Aboriginal Head Start in Quebec.
But Jeannotte didn’t want to talk to us either.
She passed our message on to her boss, Sylvain Tremblay, Health Canada’s director of children’s programs in Quebec.
Tremblay seemed uninformed about the case and expressed surprise when asked about the warrant.
“I wasn’t aware (of the warrant). You’re informing me of something,” he said.
“You understand it’s delicate. It’s a little embarrassing for us,” he added. Tremblay also said Health Canada re quires criminal background checks on board members at daycare centres, not just on employees.
“We require a criminal check for people who work with children and board members,” said Tremblay. “We can’t take chances.”
He promised to look into the situation and call back.
Three sources familiar with the Awasis centre said it has been known at the centre for several months that Russell is wanted in an arrest warrant.
Tremblay later called back to say he had been assured by the centre that it has done a criminal check on all of its volunteers, staff and board members.
He said the centre did not find anyone with criminal charges, but acknowledged that no one was checked for outstanding arrest warrants.
Tremblay said he is satisfied with the centre’s assurances and confident that there is no danger to the children at the daycare.
“They are safe. There is no reason to ask this lady to get out of the project. The only thing we can say is she (Russell) did not appear for a court hearing in Ontario,” he said.
“Health Canada does not have any problem with that situation.”
