Thieves of Innocence

Every year in Quebec, the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse collects 25,000 reports of children beaten, abandoned or sexually abused. Nearly 40% of the babies who die in the province are killed by their parents. Almost 30,000 children are dealt with by the DPJ until they reach 18, the age of majority. But does this organization respond adequately to the needs of the young people?

Journalist/documentary filmmaker Paul Arcand recorded the testimony of children and adult victims of abuse of all kinds, and questions politicking, hard-working social and members of the magistrate on their perception of the problem. Moreover, Arcand denounces the inadequacies of a bureaucratic system that doesn’t always seem to be concerned with the well being of the ones they’re supposed to be protecting.

Former Quebec child star Nathalie Simard, a victim of childhood abuse herself, sings the theme song “La vie me tue” (Life is killing me).