Judge delays decision in abduction case
A Lethbridge judge has delayed his decision on whether he will order the Canadian government to disclose information relating to a child abduction case.
Judge Jerry LeGrandeur was expected to make a ruling Monday in Lethbridge provincial court on a defence application that he order Global Affairs Canada to disclose information about his client’s extradition from Belize earlier this year. However, the Crown and defence pointed out during a brief hearing in front of another judge, that LeGrandeur needs more time to make his decision, and the matter was adjourned to Jan. 3.
Lethbridge lawyer Bill Wister believes his client's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms may have been breached when she was removed from Belize and returned to Lethbridge, where she once resided before fleeing the country with her young son. But without disclosure from the government, he doesn't know if he has a Charter argument. The federal government may know but it refuses to provide any information relating to the woman's charge, arrest and extradition.
Wister said last month that while information held by the government may show there wasn't a Charter breach, without disclosure he simply can’t know.
The federal Crown prosecutor representing the Attorney General of Canada and the minister of Global Affairs Canada said the Charter generally does not apply to Canadian officials abroad, despite Wister’s assertion the actions of Canadian consular officials in Belize are relevant to a Charter argument.
Crown prosecutor Cameron Regehr admitted the government is in possession of documents relating to the matter, but he said they are likely not relevant to the accused's defence to the charge of child abduction. And because the Charter doesn't apply to Canadian officials abroad, an application for disclosure based on a Charter argument should be dismissed.
The woman, who can't be identified under a courtordered publication ban, was apprehended more than three years after she fled to Central America with her son.
On Jan. 6, 2014 the boy's father reported his ex-wife had not dropped off their son for a court-ordered visit, had fled the country and wasn't planning to return. Police made numerous attempts to contact her, but she did not respond. On Feb. 5, 2014 she was charged with child abduction and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Police tracked the woman and child to Mexico, Guatemala and various parts of Belize, and the mother was the subject of various international Interpol alerts.
Last July Lethbridge police learned Belize authorities found the pair in the town of San Ignacio in the Cayo District and took them into custody. The mother was jailed and fined for failing to produce valid immigration documents, and the boy, who is now four years old, was placed in the care of Belize Human Services.
In August the mother was deported to the U.S., where she was arrested after landing in Houston, Tex., then returned to Canada later that night. She was taken into custody by Lethbridge police officers at the Calgary International Airport and charged with child abduction, then released from custody Aug. 23 following a bail hearing in Lethbridge.
During the hearing in November, Wister said Belize does not have an extradition treaty with Canada, and his client did not consent or agree to leave the country. He noted afterward that if the actions by the Canadian government in assisting Belize authorities breached his client's Charter rights, he will seek a stay of proceedings, which would effectively conclude the case without a conviction.