A three-year-old boy is under care in a Montreal hospital after he and his brother were severely beaten in a Quebec Indigenous community, allegedly at the hands of other children.
"People are in a state of shock. This has shaken an entire community," said Constant Awashish, Grand Chief of the Atikamekw First Nation.
The two brothers, aged 3 and 5, were attacked on Tuesday evening outside a daycare in Manawan, an Atikamekw community accessible by a gravel forest road. It is not clear how many assailants there were, but the chief said he believed there were two or three and they were between seven and nine years old.
The attack was so harsh that both boys were airlifted by helicopter for medical help. The older brother was flown to the city of Joliette, about 180 kilometres away, where he was seen by doctors and released.
The three-year-old was flown to Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, where he underwent emergency surgery. Medical staff feared damage to the boy's lungs because he was forced to swallow sand. He was expected to be released early next week, the grand chief said on Friday.
Jean-Roch Ottawa, chief of the Manawan band council, says the mother of the two boys is with the younger boy in hospital.
"We're a small community and everyone knows each other. She's living through something traumatic and it has affected her," Mr. Ottawa said. "We completely support her."
Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador, called the incident "troubling."
"This highlights the limited means that communities have when it comes to strengthening the social fabric," he said in a message sent to The Globe and Mail. "Governments have a responsibility, as we all do as leaders."
The assault has rattled the community of 2,500 people, located about 300 km north of Montreal. On Facebook, numerous people left messages of support for the children's mother. "I am with you and pray for you and your sons," one wrote. "Thank God they're alive," another said about the two victims. Some also extended prayers for "the assailant," leaving a question about whether there was a single attacker.
Mr. Awashish says he has heard reports that the attacks against the young boys involved punches and a piece of wood that was used as a weapon, but he could not confirm the information. He said the attack was stopped by a member of one of the children's families.
"We see things like this on TV but don't think it can happen in our community. It has traumatized everyone," the grand chief said.
Mr. Awashish says he will wait for the report to determine the cause of the incident, but he noted that Indigenous communities in Quebec still struggle with the heritage of residential schools and other damaging legacies.
"There could be all sorts of reasons something like this happens – it could be video games," he said. "But we also inherited tremendous suffering from our loss of identity, our loss of land. All this makes our communities more vulnerable."
Provincial child-protection services and native police are investigating the attack, and the band council has set up a crisis unit that includes psychologists and social workers. "We're a tight-knit community. We need to heal our wounds," Mr. Awashish said.