Staff stole $41K from residents at Laval centre for mentally disabled people, investigation finds

An internal investigation by Laval's health authority has found that employees at a residence for people with intellectual disabilities stole money out of residents' bank accounts throughout almost an entire year.

According to Radio-Canada, the CISSS de Laval foundstaff at the Rsidence Louise-Vachonwithdrew a total of $41,000 from residents' accounts between April 2022 and March 2023,without invoices or other supporting documents.

In general, employees can access residents'accounts for day-to-day expenses under certain conditions.

"We found that money had been withdrawn from the trust accounts of some 20 residents, without proof of purchase," said CISSS de Laval spokesperson Marie-ve Despatie-Gagnon.

She said all residents will be reimbursed in full.

Despatie-Gagnonsaid none of the employees involved are still employed by the CISSS de Laval.

"We are assessing whether legal action will be taken against the individuals concerned," she said.

Radio-Canada did not learn how many employees were involved in the thefts.

Trend of abuse and neglect

This latest incident addsto thepattern of mistreatment and abuse at theLaval centre, recently highlighted by a group of consultants.

In August, areportfound staff at the Rsidence Louise-Vachon injured residents during interventions, screamed at them and failed to properly communicate with their families.

They issued a list of 154 recommendations, most of which were targeted towardadministrators, to improve the situation at the residence, which hasbeen ongoing for years.

In 2019, three staff members were charged with assaulting residents. They were later acquitted, but after an internal investigation,the CISSS de Lavalfired nine employees.

In response to the latest investigation, Patrick Martin-Mnard, a lawyer,says he's alarmed to see yet another wave of misconduct at the centre.

"It's appalling to realize that four years later, we find ourselves not only with situations of systemic abuse, but now we're talking about financial abuse as well," said Martin-Mnard, who has filed a request for a class-action lawsuit on behalf of residents and their familiesfor acts allegedly committed at the centre between 2012 and 2019.

Training program for employees

Christine Morin, a law professor at Universit Laval in Quebec City, says shefinds it hard to understand how such a situation could arise in the public network.

"How did employees make these withdrawals? How could they withdraw so much money before someone intervened?" she said.

Morin is a member of a committee that advises Quebec's public curatoron the protection and representation of incapacitated people as well as a member of an advisory committee on material and financial abuse of seniors.

She says institutions need to be more proactive in preventing the kinds ofsituations that played out at the Rsidence Louise-Vachon.

The CISSS de Laval, for its part, believes it has been proactive and is working to set up a training program for employees on how to manage residents' property.

Rsidence Louise-Vachon has room for 42 residents.