CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Shannon Beddoe, Annabelle Lim and Susannah Mungall, McCarthy Hansen & Company LLP
3. Child Abduction 3.1 Legality
Each signatory country to the Hague Convention must have a Central Authority. The Central Authority for each province is as follows: • Alberta – Alberta Justice; • British Columbia – British Columbia Ministry of Justice; • Manitoba – Manitoba Department of Justice; • New Brunswick – Office of the Attorney General of New Brunswick; • Newfoundland and Labrador – Attorney General of Newfoundland and Labrador; • Nova Scotia – Nova Scotia Department of Justice; • Ontario – Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General; • Prince Edward Island – Prince Edward Island Department of Justice and Public Safety; • Quebec – Ministère de la Justice du Québec; and • Saskatchewan – Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice. The contact information for the Central Authorities in Canada can be found on the Hague Conference on Private International Law’s website. If the country to which the child is brought is a sig - natory to the Hague Convention, the left-behind par - ent may apply for the child’s return to Canada. The left-behind parent, or counsel acting on their behalf, should contact the relevant Central Authority (see above) to commence a Hague Application. The rel - evant Central Authority is the province in which the child was habitually resident before the removal. The Central Authority will assess whether the Hague Con - vention applies, and if so, forward the application for the child’s return to the Central Authority in the foreign jurisdiction where the child is being kept. Once the foreign Central Authority receives the Hague application, they work with the local Central Author - ity to try and obtain legal counsel for the left-behind parent. Legal counsel in the foreign jurisdiction will commence a court proceeding in the foreign court for the return of the child. The foreign court will then consider the following elements to determine whether to order the return of the child: • The child is under 16. • The child was habitually resident in Canada imme - diately before removal or retention.
If a parent who relocates with a child fails to obtain the relevant consent as outlined in 2.1 Whose Con- sent is Required for Relocation? and 2.2 Relocation Without Full Consent , the child will be found to have been “wrongfully removed”. A wrongful removal, also known as an “abduction”, is a serious matter that engages both domestic and international legal frame - works, and may result in court-ordered repatriation of the child. Furthermore, under Sections 281 to 283 of the Cana - dian Criminal Code, it is a federal criminal offence to abduct a child under the age of 14 years. The offence is punishable by a fine or up to ten years in prison. 3.2 Steps Taken to Return Abducted Children If a child is abducted or is suspected to have been abducted from Canada, the contacts below can help: • Local Police: They can investigate and share information about your child’s abduction with other national and international organisations. • The Passport Program: They can add the child’s name to the Passport Program System Lookout List or refuse to reissue a new passport. • Consular Services at Global Affairs Canada: Con - sular case management officers, who are knowl - edgeable about international child abductions, can direct parents to organisations in Canada and abroad that help in situations of child abductions. The process for having a child returned to Canada depends on whether the country to which the child was taken is a signatory of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague Convention). Hague Convention Countries Canada is a signatory to the Hague Convention. Therefore, where the child has been removed from Canada to another country that is a signatory without consent, the following procedure applies.
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