Why we're powerless to get back abducted children

Vancouver Sun, front page, By Daphne Bramham, March 15, 2005

Murray Wood had no idea last November when he kissed 10-year-old Takara and seven-year-old Manami goodbye at Vancouver International Airport that his ex-wife was abducting them.

That doesn't mean the Richmond elementary school teacher didn't take every possible precaution to ensure that Takara and Manami were only going for a couple of weeks to see their dying grandfather.

Wood had sought and was granted sole custody nearly nine months earlier. Ayako Maniwa-Wood not only didn't contest sole custody, she didn't even bother showing up for the 2 1 /2-day trial.

The day before the children left — Nov. 26 — the B.C. Supreme Court issued an order instructing Maniwa-Wood to ensure their safe return on Dec. 9 and “not commence any application for custody, guardianship or access in any other jurisdiction other than the province of British Columbia.”

One might think — as Wood did — that even if the children were abducted, it would be a simple matter to get them back.

It isn't. Unlike Canada, Japan has never signed the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.  Read More ..

Judge chastises Norway after woman, daughters flee Canada

The National Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, By Lori Coolican, March 26, 2009

SASKATOON - A Saskatchewan judge slammed the Norwegian government last month for providing new passports to help a woman flee Canada with two children in the midst of a nasty, transatlantic custody battle.

"The Norwegian government played a pivotal role in the breach of orders of this court. (They) could not have left Canada without its assistance," Court of Queen's Bench Justice Geoff Dufour remarked in a Feb. 19 written decision obtained recently by the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Read More ..