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Last Updated: Friday, May 1, 2009 | 6:03 PM ET Comments100Recommend60
CBC News
A Montreal father waiting to reunite with his missing daughter who was found last month in Vancouver living with her mother is facing an uphill legal battle to bring her home.
The man – who cannot be named because his daughter is in protective custody in British Columbia – is still waiting to see his daughter, who went missing from Montreal two years ago.
Police found the 10-year-old girl in B.C. earlier this spring when she called authorities from a pay phone after running away from her mother's home.
She had been living with her mother in Vancouver, who took her there without the father's knowledge despite not having custody.
The father travelled to B.C. in late April with the hope of a reunion with his daughter. But he returned alone, having only spoken to her by phone, because of a custody dispute with her mother.
A Quebec court has granted him full custody of the girl, but the order is only recognized in that province for now.
He said his visit to Vancouver was marked by one roadblock after another.
"We get there, [the mother] got a lawyer, and before we even get started, they say they're going to try to tie it up for as long as they can," he told CBC.
The mother is contesting the Quebec custody order in B.C. Superior Court. "[She's] saying [she] wasn’t properly notified," the father said.
Quebec has already issued a warrant for the woman's arrest on contempt of court charges for failing to comply with the custody order.
Montreal police are working on extending that warrant nationally in order to be able to enforce it in British Columbia, said police spokesman Ian Lafrenière.
"The good news for us is that the kid is safe, but on the other hand, there is a legal issue at this moment," he said.
The girl will remain in protective custody until her parents sort out their dispute.
Her father said he's scared it will be hard to reconcile with her after all this time, especially after speaking with her on the phone.
"We didn't talk much; it was just hello," he said. "I went there to rekindle a relationship. It looks now like I have a court battle in B.C."
He believes she's been brainwashed, he said. "Clear and simple. Because even when she was small, she used to say, 'Mommy says bad things about you; when I'm with mommy, I say bad things about you."
CBC tried several times to contact the mother's lawyer, but messages were not returned.