Simonetta Lanzi

Following correspondence and telephone conferences with counsel, the Court of Appeal issued an addendum on consent ordering that, pending the return of the child to Florida, no one shall remove the child from Ontario.

The mother travelled to Ontario from Florida with the parties' child and subsequently refused to return.

The father commenced a Hague Convention application for the child's return eight months later.

The motion judge dismissed the application, finding the father had acquiesced to the retention due to his delay.

The Court of Appeal allowed the father's appeal, holding that an eight-month delay within the one-year window provided by Article 12 of the Hague Convention does not constitute clear and cogent evidence of unequivocal acquiescence under Article 13(a).

The child was ordered to be returned to Florida.