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After months of living in foster care apart from both of her parents, parental abduction victim Ashley Gonis was to be moved from foster care in Vancouver to be placed in foster care in Montreal, the city in which her father Frank Gonis lives. Reports as to whether this happened or not still aren’t available, but the Canadian government promised the father in writing that it would be done by June 25, 2009.

Since Ashley was found by police after running away from her mother Araceli Bravo on April 10, 2009, she hasn’t had anything close to a normal or stable life. The manner in which Canadian authorities are handling the whole matter seems to show more concern for legal technicalities than for Ashley’s well-being.

In that time, Gonis and his daughter have had a few visits, usually supervised by youth-protection officials.

Although Gonis is the girl’s legal guardian in Quebec, he is not recognized as such in Vancouver, he explained. The girl is currently living in a foster home.

“So, I had to sign over custody of the girl to British Columbia youth-protection officials, and they have given me a written guarantee she will be in Montreal June 25,” he said.

Gonis will return to Montreal on Friday. When his daughter arrives, she’ll be living in foster care, at least temporarily, until youth-protection officials determine how best to reintegrate Ashley with her family.

Another Example of False Allegations and Parental Abduction in Canada

Franklin Andrade of Montreal, Quebec, claims that his wife became enraged after he found out about her affair. She then proceeded to block his access to their children by filing child sexual abuse allegations which were later found to be unsubstantiated. Because she wasn’t getting what she wanted in Montreal, she fled to Winnipeg.

Andrade found out about this after being served by police with a protection order issued by a Manitoba court, an order which he has so far been unable to contest:

On June 16, [2008] at 2 a.m. police officers knocked my door and asked me to sign a Protection Order sent to me by Provincial Court of Manitoba. The document literally indicated that my lovely wife was on holiday somewhere far away with my children without my consent or a court order of custody and that new accusations of the same nature were presented this time in Winnipeg against me, and that the protection order strictly prohibits me from seeing my children for three years or face severe consequences (all in the name of keeping the father away from loving and seeing his children).

He claims the court won’t even allow him to contest the order blocking him from seeing his children because there is no address on file to contact his wife. That’s truly outrageous to deprive somebody of fundamental civil and legal rights because there’s not an address for the accuser on file. This is yet another blight on Canada’s record as a nation that respects civil and human rights.

Canadian Laws Handle Parental Abduction Poorly

In light of many stories of Canadian parents making false abuse allegations against the other parent to seize custody, failing to prove their claims, and then fleeing to another Canadian province to violate custody orders and restart the conflict there, it appears that Canadian laws are at best inefficient and slow at handling such situations. They may actually be encouraging parental abductions because parents see so many stories like these and know they can buy years of illegal sole custody of their children simply by moving out of their home province and threaten their children’s other parent with the option of permanently losing contact with their children or suffering likely financial ruination unless they happen to be wealthy. Often, because of the manner in which Canadian laws assist false accusers and parental alienators, the result is the target parent suffers both permanent parental alienation and financial ruination.

The Canadian national government should implement laws to streamline handling of interprovincial child abduction cases and tracking down children to return them to court-ordered custody in a speedy fashion, before parental alienation child abuse makes it far more difficult for the children to be reunited with the parents left behind. It should also prosecute people who make false allegations against others and thereby cause harm to those falsely accused and their children.

Further Reading

Abducted Montreal girl to return home from Vancouver

Araceli Bravo Arrested for Abducting Daughter Ashley Gonis

Abducted Ashley Gonis Still Can’t See Her Father

Canadian Parental Alienation Court Cases

Andrade, Franklin, Montreal, QU: Falsely accused father, abductions of my children to Winnipeg from Montreal

Franklin Andrade’s story in his own words