The Cult Dossier · No. 059 · Apocalyptic / Doomsday

Ant Hill Kids

Roch Thériault's commune

1977 – 1989 · Sainte-Marie, Quebec; then Burnt River, Ontario, Canada

VI. THE 1970s — THE GREAT PROLIFERATION

Fully religious — apocalyptic Seventh-day Adventist offshoot

Who led it

ROCH THÉRIAULT (1947–2011), a former Adventist who called himself MOÏSE (Moses) and later declared himself the reincarnation of a prophet who would survive the end of the world, which he dated to February 1979.

What it worshipped and taught

An Adventist-derived apocalypticism sustained by Thériault's absolute authority. Members abandoned their names, surrendered their children, and lived under a regime of forced labour and constant alcohol consumption (Thériault was a severe alcoholic and required the commune to drink with him). He took all the women as wives and fathered more than 20 children. He performed surgery on members while drunk, including amputations and abdominal operations with kitchen implements and no anaesthetic, cauterising wounds with a hot iron.

Who was in it

Roch Thériault (Moïse); GABRIELLE LAVALLÉE, who survived the amputation of her right arm and whose testimony convicted him; Solange Boilard, who died after Thériault performed an abdominal operation on her with a kitchen knife; Guy Veer; Chantal Labrie; Francine Laflamme; Samuel, an infant who died after Thériault operated on his groin; Matthew Gerard MacDonald, the inmate who killed him.

How it ended, or where it stands

Destroyed by prosecution; leader murdered in prison.

The dead

2 confirmed murders; multiple maimings. THE GROUP WAS TINY, WHICH IS THE POINT WORTH RECORDING. In 1984 it consisted of NINE WOMEN, TWO MEN AND TEN CHILDREN — roughly eleven adults. Thériault took EIGHT WIVES and fathered the children of the commune; SOURCES DISAGREE ON THE TOTAL, giving either 23 or 26, and this file will not choose between them. THE ONE FIRM NUMBER IS INSTITUTIONAL: 23 CHILDREN WERE REMOVED BY THE CHILDREN'S AID SOCIETY AND PLACED IN FOSTER CARE. A CAVEAT ON SOURCING — most accessible writing on this group is true-crime content of low evidentiary quality, and the figures above are given only where they converge or rest on the child-protection record. The scale is the finding: this level of violence did not require a mass movement, only about a dozen adults and no exit

Of note

The most physically brutal small commune in the North American record. Note the pattern: a failed apocalyptic date in 1979 followed by escalating violence turned inward on the group — the same sequence seen at Tábor, Münster and Jonestown.

Its timeline

1977 Thériault forms the group after leaving the Adventist church.
1978 The commune moves to a remote mountain at Saint-Jogues, Quebec, to await the end of the world in February 1979.
1981 A two-year-old, Samuel Giguère, dies after Thériault operates on his testicles with a knife; the child's body is later mutilated. Thériault serves two years for criminal negligence.
1984 Group relocates to Burnt River, Ontario.
26 September 1988 SOLANGE BOILARD dies after Thériault, drunk, cuts open her abdomen with a knife, has a member reach inside her, and attempts to reseal her with a needle and thread. He later exhumes the body and removes a rib.
1989 GABRIELLE LAVALLÉE's right arm, already partly mutilated, is AMPUTATED by Thériault. Published accounts differ on the instrument used — some say a hunting knife and blowtorch, others a chainsaw — but the amputation itself is undisputed. On 16 AUGUST 1989 she escapes and hitchhikes to a hospital north of Toronto; her testimony convicts him.
1993 Convicted of second-degree murder; sentenced to life.
26 February 2011 Killed in Dorchester Penitentiary by his cellmate, who cut his throat and carried the severed body part to the guards.

Its people

Roch Thériault

Moïse (Moses)

Leader, the Ant Hill Kids · 16 May 1947 – 26 February 2011 · active 1977–1989

A former Seventh-day Adventist who declared himself a prophet, dated the end of the world to February 1979, and when it did not come turned the violence inward. A severe alcoholic, he required the commune to drink with him and performed surgery on members while drunk — amputations and abdominal operations with kitchen implements, no anaesthetic, wounds cauterised with a hot iron. He took all the women and fathered over 20 children. He was killed in prison by his cellmate, who cut his throat and carried the severed body part to the guards.

Before the law. CONVICTED of second-degree murder, 1993, plus earlier criminal negligence. Died incarcerated.

Where things stand. Deceased 2011.

1977 Forms the group.
1981 A two-year-old dies after Thériault operates on him; two years served for criminal negligence.
26 September 1988 Solange Boilard dies after he cuts open her abdomen with a knife.
16 AUGUST 1989 Amputates Gabrielle Lavallée's right arm (published accounts differ on the instrument). She escapes the same day and hitchhikes to a hospital north of Toronto.
1993 Convicted of second-degree murder; life.
26 February 2011 Killed in Dorchester Penitentiary.

Checked

Gabrielle Lavallée

—

Ant Hill Kids survivor whose escape ended the group · born c.1952 · active 1978–1989

Her testimony convicted him. She wrote L'alliance de la brebis (The Alliance of the Ewe) about the experience and later became a public speaker on coercive control.

Before the law. Never charged. The prosecution's principal witness.

Where things stand. Living in Quebec.

1978 Joins the commune.
1980s Subjected to escalating mutilation, including dental extractions with pliers and a knife driven through her hand.
1989 Thériault amputates her right arm. Accounts differ on the instrument used; the amputation itself is undisputed.
16 AUGUST 1989
1993 Her testimony convicts Thériault of second-degree murder.
1993 Publishes L'alliance de la brebis.

Checked 2026-08-24 · living: health details are kept at home

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