A 7-year-old girl has died in hospital, a day after she was found in critical condition at a home in Granby, Que., by local police. Quebec provincial police are now handling the investigation. Police have not released the girl's cause of death. Two people were arrested Tuesday morning, before the girl died. They appeared in court that afternoon. A 35-year-old woman was charged with aggravated assault endangering a life and forcible confinement. A 30-year-old-man was charged with forcible confinement. Both are expected back in court Thursday and could face more serious charges now that the girl has died. Stuffed animals and flowers have been left outside the home where the girl lived. (Brigitte Marcoux/Radio-Canada) Radio-Canada learned that the girl attended a Granby elementary school until she was recently pulled out to be home-schooled. The local French school board, Commission scolaire du Val-des-Cerfs, deployed crisis teams to the school the girl attended. "The team includes psychologists and psycho-educators. They're there in the field to ensure an organization of services to support students and teachers," said Alexandra Langlois, a school board spokesperson.<doc-sep>Mourners joined hands, lit candles and read messages in front of where the girl lived. Dozens of stuffed animals were left in her memory. Article content Despite heavy rain, hundreds of people gathered in Granby on Wednesday night to commemorate a seven-year-old girl whose father and his partner have been arrested in her death. Mourners joined hands, lit candles and read messages in front of where the girl lived. Temporary shelters were erected to protect people and the dozens of stuffed animals left in front of the house from the rain. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Hundreds gather to mourn seven-year-old girl in Granby Back to video The girl’s biological mother was there, along with other family members. Local police responding to a call found the girl apparently tied up and in critical condition shortly before noon on Monday in Granby, about 80 kilometres east of Montreal. The child died one day later. The Sûreté du Québec has taken over the investigation. Two adults — identified by people close to the family as the girl’s father and his partner — were placed under arrest Tuesday morning. The pair were charged before the girl died — the man was charged with unlawful confinement, while the woman was charged with unlawful confinement and aggravated assault.<doc-sep>The Quebec government has ordered a coroner's inquest into the death of a seven-year-old Granby girl, whose situation was being tracked by the province's youth protection services — making it the fourth investigation into the case. The director of youth protection in the Eastern Townships, Alain Trudel, has also been suspended. "It's troubling, revolting that people knew (about the girl's situation), including the youth protection office," Premier François Legault said in Quebec City. "I asked for a public inquiry to be 100 per cent transparent, because all of Quebec wants to know what happened to this little girl and what we could have done to avoid it." Local police found the girl in critical condition at her father's home in Granby, 80 kilometres east of Montreal,Monday. She was taken to hospital and remained in a coma until she died Tuesday. The girl's father, 30, has been charged with forcible confinement, and her stepmother, 35, has been charged with forcible confinement and aggravated assault. CBC News is not naming them or anyone else related to the girl because of a court-ordered publication ban to protect the child's identity. The couple facing criminal charges appeared in court again Thursday morning. They are not facing any new charges for now, but they remain detained and are expected back in court later this month. Apart from the continuing criminal investigation by Quebec provincial police, two other investigations are now underway: one by the local health authority and another by the province's human and youth rights commission, the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse. 'How can we protect, in a better way, our children?' Speaking to the reporters at the National Assembly Thursday, Legault said he will also call another inquiry, stemming from the child's death. "It may be a commission like we had with [Dying with Dignity] because I think it's more than the DPJ," Legault told reporters at the National Assembly Thursday, referring to the French acronym for Quebec's youth protection directorate. "We've seen decisions [by the] parents that are questionable. We've seen that the school [administration] was aware of the situation. So, how can we protect, in a better way, our children?" Lionel Carmant, the Quebec minister responsible youth protection, said the child had a long history on involvement with the youth protection system, which had intervened in her case as recently as last month. He said there is a problem with employee absenteeism in Quebec's youth protection agencies, and that contributes to the problem of long wait lists. "That's at the heart of the problem that we have to resolve: it's the functioning of the system," Carmant said. DPJ director's handling of case 'unsatisfactory': minister Hours before Carmant told reporters of the youth protection system's involvement in the girl's case Wednesday, Trudel said in a separate news conference that he could not confirm youth protection authorities knew the family. Speaking generally, he said the agency required several levels of verification before removing a child from its biological family. When asked how Carmant would qualify Trudel's handling of the situation, the minister said, "It was unsatisfactory, I would say." The girl's grandmother told Radio-Canada Wednesday she had "fought" to get custody of her granddaughter for years. She called for a public inquiry into the functioning of the entire youth protection system. Quebec Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault says she is the one who requested the public coroner's inquest into the girl's death, in the hopes of shedding more light onto what happened. (Radio-Canada) Guilbault said she ordered the coroner's inquest to look at all the ways the system failed the girl. The coroner's mandate in a public inquest includes determining the probable causes and circumstances surrounding the death, as well as making recommendations, if they're warranted. "It's that recommendation part that could be of interest," Guilbault said. "It could shed more light on what happened ... both at the youth protection agency, but also, perhaps, on other aspects of child protection in Quebec."<doc-sep>WARNING: Some readers may find the details in this story disturbing. Quebec officials have ordered a public inquiry into the death of a seven-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten to death in her home, despite youth protection services being aware of the girl’s situation. During a news conference Thursday, Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault announced the coroner would hold a public inquest into the young girl’s death, including recommendations to avoid similar cases. The director of the regional Youth Protection Services has also been suspended with pay at the request of Quebec Premier Francois Legault, who called the case “revolting” while speaking to reporters. "It's troubling, revolting that people knew (about the girl's situation), including the youth protection office," Legault said during the news conference. "I asked for a public inquiry to be 100 per cent transparent, because all of Quebec wants to know what happened to this little girl and what we could have done to avoid it." Local police found the child in critical condition on Monday after she had been tied to a bed and allegedly beaten in the home she shared with her father, stepmother, and brother in Granby, Que. She was rushed to hospital in Granby and transferred to a hospital in Sherbrooke where she died on Tuesday. The girl’s father and stepmother were arrested on Monday. The next day, the father was charged with confinement and the stepmother was charged with confinement and aggravated assault. The charges may be upgraded in light of the child’s death. The girl’s name is subject to a publication ban because she was a minor. Quebec’s junior health minister Lionel Carment said youth protection officials had been aware of the girl’s situation in the home for several months and they had last intervened in her case in April. Liberal MNA Helene David, the official opposition for social services, said authorities knew the child had been recently taken out of school. She said the girl’s grandmother had attempted to gain custody of the child because she didn’t think her son was fit to care for the girl. The public inquest ordered Thursday is one of several into the girl’s death, including an investigation announced by the regional health authority in Quebec's Eastern Townships, the province's human and youth rights commission and the criminal probe led by Quebec provincial police. Officials are also considering a wider investigation to explore lengthy wait times for youth protection services in the province. “I think the problem is all over Quebec,” Carment said Wednesday. Alain Trudel, the director of youth protection services for the Eastern Townships region, asked people not to jump to conclusions about the case during a press conference on Wednesday. He said he was unable to disclose whether his office was involved in the case, but he said the law is clear that removing a child from a home is a final step and it has to be based on facts instead of rumours. The girl’s father and stepmother appeared in court Thursday. None of the allegations in this case has been proven in court. The girl’s biological mother, who did not have custody of the child, alleges the child acted out due to her home environment by screaming and defecating on the floor. “They wouldn’t let her have contact with anyone from my family that she knew since birth. They even tried to prevent me from seeing her,” the mother told CTV News. “We warned the youth department countless times there were problems. We complained to police, we did everything we could,” said the mother. “I don’t know why no one took her out of there. They told us it was better than jumping around from one foster home to another.”<doc-sep>
Quebec's minister in charge of youth protection has asked for an investigation into the death of a seven-year-old girl in Granby by the local health authority and the province's Human Rights Commission. Lionel Carmant said the child had a file with the province's youth protection system (DPJ) and that the last time it intervened in her case was in April. Earlier in the day, Carmant said he's outraged by the circumstances surrounding her death. "We are going to make every effort to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said. Carmant said there are "clearly" cracks in the province's youth protection system. He said he wants to look into whether waiting lists at the agency that serves the area played a role in what he called a tragic story. Local police found the girl in critical condition at a home in Granby on Monday. She was taken to hospital, where she was in a coma until she died on Tuesday. Quebec provincial police have taken over the criminal investigation into the girl's death. Her father, 30, has been charged with forcible confinement, and her stepmother, 35, has been charged with forcible confinement and aggravated assault. They are expected back in court Thursday and may face more charges now that the girl has died. CBC News is not naming the two suspects, nor the seven-year-old victim, for legal reasons. Grandmother calls for public inquiry The girl's grandmother — who CBC is not naming either to protect the girl's identity — says she fought for custody of the victim for years. A Radio-Canada reporter speaks with the grandmother of the seven-year-old girl who died in Granby. CBC is not naming the grandmother to protect the girl's identity. (Radio-Canada) "We fought tooth and nail, hours upon hours, we built up a file," she said in an interview with Radio-Canada. "It's been years — since 2015 — that we've been fighting against the DPJ to get her out of there." The woman says the DPJ told her they wouldn't remove the girl from her father's house because she was already under too much stress, and that it would be an extra strain on her. Following the girl's death, she wants the government to launch a public inquiry into the entire youth protection system in Quebec. "It's more than time for a clean-up at the DPJ. There can be no more cases like this; it can't happen again," she said. "I hope she didn't die for nothing." Police sources told Radio-Canada the girl had knocked on a neighbour's door overnight Sunday before she was found in critical condition by police Monday at around noon. Don't jump to conclusions, agency says Alain Trudel, the director of youth protection for the Eastern Townships, which covers Granby, said he is not free to say whether his agency is involved in the case. The agency's privacy policy prohibits it from divulging any details about individual cases. There are about 400 cases in the region waiting to be evaluated, he said — a number that should be no more than 40 to 50. The situation is the same across Quebec, Trudel said. However, he cautioned against pointing to the length of the waiting list or the lack of resources for youth protection workers as possible explanations for the girl's death. He said removing a child from the family home is a last resort and happens only in circumstances where the child faces a real and imminent danger. Stuffed animals and flowers have been left outside the home where the girl lived in Granby, Que. (Brigitte Marcoux/Radio-Canada) The pros of removing the child from the home have to be weighed against the impact it may have on that child, he explained. Trudel said he would co-operate with an inquest if one is called. Neighbours are dropping off flowers and stuffed animals outside the home where the girl lived. Radio-Canada learned that the girl attended a Granby elementary school until she was recently pulled out to be home-schooled.