The applicant wife sought spousal support under the Divorce Act.
The respondent husband opposed the application, arguing the parties were validly divorced in Syria in 2008.
A focused hearing was held to determine whether the Syrian divorce should be recognized in Canada.
The court found that Syria lacked jurisdiction as neither party was domiciled there, nor did they have a real and substantial connection to Syria at the time of the divorce.
Furthermore, the court held that the Syrian divorce process, which denied the wife the ability to contest the divorce, breached Canadian principles of natural justice.
The court refused to recognize the foreign divorce and allowed the wife's spousal support application to proceed.
