2 total
Appeal allowed; returning child to father convicted of child assault constitutes grave risk of harm.
The appellant mother appealed an order returning her five-year-old child to Morocco under the Hague Convention.
The application judge found Morocco to be the child's habitual residence and rejected the mother's argument that returning the child would pose a grave risk of harm, despite the respondent father's criminal conviction in Morocco for assaulting the child.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding that the application judge erred by not considering the father's assault conviction prospectively and cumulatively with the likely separation of the child from her primary caregiver, the mother, who faced significant legal barriers to returning to Morocco.
The Court held that returning the child to the father's sole care without adequate protective measures constituted a grave risk of harm.
Motion to stay Hague Convention return order pending appeal dismissed; stay not in child's best interests.
The mother wrongfully retained the parties' 9-year-old child in Ontario following a holiday visit, breaching a California final consent order.
The father successfully applied under the Hague Convention for the child's immediate return to California.
The mother appealed the return order and brought an urgent motion to stay the order pending appeal, citing the child's strong objections to returning.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the motion, applying the RJR-MacDonald test and finding that a stay was not in the child's best interests, as the appeal had a low chance of success and continuing the unlawful separation perpetuated harm to the father-child relationship.
