Feb. 2024

Jacob’s Case – A Mother’s Voice.

Around September 2024, my son’s father was granted a shared 50/50 custody arrangement.

In early 2024, a Canadian court ordered that Jacob travel to Vietnam.

I had serious concerns about my son traveling internationally due to ongoing issues. Based on those concerns, I made the decision to withhold him from his father.

Police arrived at my home unannounced, stating they were there to “remind” me of the court’s order. I expressed my concerns for Jacob’s safety, but they were dismissed. I even invited the officers inside, as Jacob was with me, but they declined.

By then, I had growing concerns not only about the situation with Jacob’s father but also about the systems around us, which appeared unwilling to properly assess the risks.

Soon after, the father’s lawyer filed an “emergency” motion. It followed a pattern of legal pressure that left little room for review or dialogue. The motion was granted within days.

At the time, I was actively raising protection concerns and had not yet secured legal counsel. I appeared in court solely to request that the motion be returned.

This was a lawful and reasonable step. I was shocked when that request was denied.

I had believed the courts were there to uphold the law, not to facilitate the international relocation of a three-year-old child to a jurisdiction where no formal child recovery mechanism exists.

Yet the order went forward, and even worse, it included authorization for police to use force if I did not comply.

I was in disbelief.

What intensified my fear was learning that Jacob’s father had already liquidated his assets, including those the court had ordered preserved. I believed he was preparing to leave permanently. I hoped I was wrong.

The court did not stop at authorizing Jacob’s travel. It went further, awarding the father “make-up parenting time” for the days I had tried to protect our son, and granting enforcement powers to provincial and federal police. My whole body was shaking in court, virtually. I was also ordered to cover the legal costs of the motions that ultimately enabled Jacob’s removal.

It was yet another chapter in a long and painful legal ordeal.

But this time, it felt different. It carried a weight and a finality I had never known.

On February 1, 2024, I was forced to surrender my child.

I have not seen or heard from Jacob since.

What Happened After

Soon after Jacob’s removal, Canadian courts declared his retention in Vietnam to be wrongful and ordered his immediate return.

The RCMP, CBSA, and Toronto Police were all directed to enforce that return. They have failed to act successfully.

Vietnamese police later confirmed a criminal complaint regarding Jacob’s concealment Notice in July 2024. Still, Canadian officials continued to dismiss the case as a “private custody matter.”

Officials at Global Affairs Canada were fully aware of the criminal complaint and the risks to Jacob, yet they chose delay over protection. At the Canadian Consulate in Vietnam, an official cleared Jacob’s INTERPOL Yellow Notice without my consent, without prior notice — despite my being at the Consulate that same day — and without offering any opportunity for me to be heard or meaningfully involved. They referred to his unlawful cross-border movement as a “visa runs” and warned me not to “burn bridges” by speaking out. Even after Vietnam confirmed a criminal investigation, Global Affairs Canada refused to issue a formal diplomatic request or take protective steps. Instead, they chose silence.

More than a year and a half after Jacob’s abduction, the Law Society of Ontario finally reopened my serious complaints. Yet, despite this overdue step, I have still not been granted a meaningful opportunity to participate in the process.

Why This Matters to Canadians

When a Canadian child can be taken abroad under a court order, and the government refuses to act on its own wrongdoing, every family in this country is at risk.

Vietnam has acted within its legal frameworks and in accordance with international law. This is not a foreign issue. It is a challenge rooted in Canadian institutions and systems.

It is a Canadian failure that exposes dangerous gaps in our child-protection, justice, and foreign and national policy systems. The danger does not stop at the border. And children’s rights do not end there either. They follow them wherever they go.

Jacob’s failure began here, within our own institutions:

• In courtrooms where lawyers fabricate evidence without consequence.

• In systems where misconduct is buried under privilege.

• In government offices where truth is known and still denied.

When the law itself becomes complicit, and officers of the court abandon their duty to uphold the truth, the system collapses into moral decay. I witnessed this collapse firsthand: years of sustained criminal conduct shielded and enabled by the Superior Court of Ontario.

Corruption in, corruption out.

Those responsible remain free, unexamined, and unaccountable.

When the State strips a parent of the ability to protect their child, it assumes that duty itself.

That is a sacred trust. And it has been abandoned for Jacob.

Jacob’s case is a warning. If this can happen to one child under court supervision, it can happen again.

To protect every child, the truth must come out.

Donate now to help bring Jacob home and fight for justice.