Rescues turned Hoarders – A hoarding saga in the Haut-Saint-Laurent

A hoarding saga in the Haut-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec get’s my attention. It all starts off with a cry for help from a so-called “rescue” that needs her 15+ dogs out by January 18th or the municipality of Franklin (which was unknown at the time) will seize her dogs because of a zoning change. This is where the story morphed into two other cases.

The first case is regarding a Sylvie Janvresse, suspected of being in St-Anicent. A call to the St-Anicent town hall reveals that Sylvie left their town in July of 2012, they don’t have a forwarding address. They confirm they had problems with Sylvie in the past but the problem was no longer in their town.

Later that day we get a call from Hinchinbrooke stating that the problem is now in their town with a so-called Helene Richer. They explain that Helene had approached the municipality of Hinchinbrooke to be their local dog catcher, after review the city told Helene she could not be the dog catcher at that address because of the zoning. Helene acted as the local dog pound none the less, over the summer the number of dogs at that address tripled, that caused the municipality to act. They issued a cease and desist letter giving her until the 18th to 20th of January to get rid of all the dogs she had over the municipal limit of two dogs. After investigating we confirm Helene has turned into a hoarder, some of her so-called “rescued” dogs are tied outside in winter, with extremely limited shelter and no heat.

After filming and acquiring proof regarding the Hinchingbrooke case we get a call for a municipal inspector in Dundee, he knows where Sylvie Janvresse is now located, so we call the municipality of Franklin and they confirm they have a problem with a local hoarder named Sylvie Janvresse. Both Helene and Sylvie are on Facebook and claim to be in Valleyfield when they are not.

We know Laurence Perron aka the Vagabond aka Refuge St-Chatques moved in with Sylvie Janvresse in Franklin after July of 2012. Sylvie runs a so-called “rescue” and shacked up with Laurence because of a dog food connection, Laurence gets free dog food for her so called “rescue”. Some claim the problem started when Laurence arrived, but those who have been rescuing for the last 20 years know this ain’t the first time Sylvie is forced to move because of municipal problems which at times included MAPAQ.

MAPAQ had a file on Sylvie when she was living in St-Anicent, that house was sold and gutted by the new owner. The folks at Franklin also claim this house will need to be gutted before anyone wants to re-rent it. The municipality of Franklin has also given Sylvie a deadline of January 15th to fix her problem of having to many dogs. The house Sylvie is now residing in is located next to a campground and the city needs this problem solved before summer as this will affect their tourism industry.

The municipality of Franklin has the exact same story about Helene but this time it’s Sylvie that wanted to be the dog catcher in Franklin. Sylvie had approached the city before renting, she was told she could not be a dog pound at that location, she moved in anyways.

Sylvie want’s her dogs back, she needs people to foster them until she can find a new place, Laurence want’s the same thing, she wants her dogs back. Various rescues in Ontario have offered to help them “run” from the “law” in fear that these dogs will be euthanized. Running from MAPAQ is only encouraging the act of hoarding, those who are helping these so-called “rescues” run away, can be prosecuted for encouraging such tactics.

As for Helene she appears to be surrendering them to various “rescues” who in turn are sending them to various SPCA’s, that is when they have no room themselves. I was told a litter of pitbull puppies might be going to the Montreal SPCA because two of them have died this week, they suspect poison. With the 3 cases at hand, we are talking of about 90+ dogs located on two lands within the same MRC (Municipal Regional County).

These are not cases of municipalities abusing the law, I’m hearing from so-called “rescues” that these municipalities are being mean to these so-called “rescues”, these municipalities have a valid reason to act. One’s enjoyment of property cannot be won in court at the determent of the municipality or it’s residents.

Those who know Sophie and I know we defend what’s right, but cases like these full of lies are not justifiable. At first most municipalities feared we wanted to attack their by-laws, but after getting to the bottom of these stories it’s the municipalities that need the help and not these hoarders. They had the chance to fix things, now it’s to late. Franklin want’s the buck to end there, they don’t wanna push the problem elsewhere.

To help me out with these hoarding investigations please considering looking at the items I have for sale, these items help cover my traveling costs.