How a child's refusal to wear a seatbelt grounded a Porter flight and sparked an online tantrum
Passengers say they were stranded in the middle of the night after their flight from Victoria, B.C. to Toronto was cancelled.
The Toronto Star, August 15, 2026, By Kristjan Lauten, Staff Reporter
At first, nobody on the plane really believed that one child’s refusal to wear a seatbelt could really cancel an entire flight.
They sat tightly packed on a 10:30 p.m. Thursday night red-eye Porter flight from Victoria, B.C. to Toronto's Pearson airport and watched the clock creep later and later with no movement on the tarmac. It seemed, at least to passenger Rachel Berry, like any other delayed flight.
Then the announcements started. Vague reminders to obey the crew's instructions got increasingly stern until one finally warned that directions needed to be followed within a minute.
Flight attendants told passengers the delay was a young child, around row 20, refusing to buckle in before takeoff. Berry remembers those whispers spreading aisle to aisle as it approached midnight and confusion grew.
The young child and the mother were ultimately forced to deboard the plane. But their exit from flight PD444 on Aug. 6 wasn't enough - the commotion forced the pilots to miss their runway window to take off before the airport closed, which cancelled the late-night journey.
"It is pretty sensational for the entire flight to spend an extra night because of one child," Berry said.
Within days, the child's alleged behaviour and airline response would be at the centre of a fiery discourse worldwide about parenting and passenger rights. Comment sections across social media are still firing with arguments over how the parent should have treated their child.
Brantford police charge woman, 39, in connection with 2005 death of newborn 'Baby Parker'
The Expositor, Brantford, Ontario, by Michelle Ruby, Vincent Ball, Feb 26, 2026
Brantford Police have arrested a woman in connection with the case of Baby Parker, a full-term newborn baby that was found dead near the walking trails by Dufferin Avenue and Parkside Drive in Brantford.
Police have arrested and charged a 39-year-old woman in connection with the death of a newborn, who became known as Baby Parker, more than 20 years ago.
The accused, who lived in Brantford at the time of the incident, has been charged with indignity to a body and concealing the body of a child.
It has been more than two decades since a full-term newborn boy was found wrapped in a towel near an abandoned train track in Brantford. On July 28, 2005, Brantford police responded to the area of the walking trails near Dufferin Avenue and Parkside Drive after a citizen discovered the newborn’s body.
The death of the infant became the subject of an extensive and ongoing police investigation, said a news release issued by police on Thursday. As the identity of the child was unknown, officers named him Baby Parker, a reference to the area where he was found. Until now, neither the child’s mother or father had been identified.
“With the assistance of the Toronto Police Service, and through the utilization of new DNA technologies and advanced investigative techniques, detectives were able to further the investigation and identify the person believed to be the mother of Baby Parker,” said the release.
“Given the sensitive nature of this investigation, and in consideration of privacy interests and the ongoing judicial process, the name of the accused will not be released at this time. Police are not seeking additional suspects, and there is no ongoing risk to public safety.” Police say they have no evidence to suggest that anyone else was involved during the birth of Baby Parker or in the events that followed.
“Investigators are not seeking any additional suspects and, at this time, do not anticipate that any further charges will be laid,” said the release.
Throughout the course of the 20-year investigation, the Brantford Police Service worked closely with partner agencies. The Ontario Provincial Police previously assisted with statement analysis through its Behavioral Sciences Section and developed a potential profile of the child’s mother.
