Answers emerge in case of 8 missing Innu children from Pakuashipi

In 1972, eight children from the Innu community of Pakuashipi on Quebec's Lower North Shore were sent to a hospital inBlanc-Sablon200 kilometres away, and never returned.

Thecommunity's 80 membershad just moved into their first homes at the time, hoping for a better life.

Heated by firewood, the houses did not have running water and lacked access to basic services. Pakuashipi residentsoften turnedfor help toa fishing village on the other side of the St. Augustine River.

Within months, the eight children fell ill.

Sent to hospital alone

Each child was sent alone by plane for treatment, never to be seen again.

Their parents never received notice of their deaths, leaving them to wonder if they were still alive.

Louisa Mark, a community member, believed her sister Odettehad beenadopted.

Others feared the worst, such asChristine Lalo,who believedher children were murdered.

For many years, distance and language prevented the families fromdemanding accountability from the authorities.

The doubts caused by this long silence still markthe community.

I could never talk about my sadness at having lost my two daughters. To learn today what happened toMoniquemakes me even sadder.- Agns Poker

Documents reveal the truth

At the request of theparents, Radio-Canada requested documents fromthe Blanc-Sablonhospital and wasgranted access.

The documents obtained revealed thatall eight children haddied, most of respiratory tract infections.

One three-month-old baby girl died after choking on food"Obstructive pulmonary asphyxia at the upper respiratory tract" was the official cause.

A sadness that still lives

"Why did they give her food," askedher mother, Agns Poker. "She was only three months old and on the bottle. "

"I could never talk about my sadness at having lost my two daughters. To learn today what happened to Monique makes me even sadder," she said.

The attending physician of the time has since died and the current hospital management cannot explain what happened there.

'Like a war hospital'

"The Lower North Shore waslike a war hospital," said Madeleine St-Gelais, a traveling nurse who knew about the care delivered at the time.

"To say they buried the children without letting the parents see them or know about it, I find that difficult," St-Gelais said.

Radio-Canada found three doctors who had rotatedthrough Blanc-Sablon at the time. They hadno memory of thedeaths, but said Innu children often arrived at the hospital in very bad shape.

Charles Mark, who owned the only motorboat in the area, often helped residents ofPakuashipicross to the fishing village on the other side of the river.

He saidthat it took forever to getthem to the hospital becausewhite patients were given precedence.