The two children of the marriage had lived in both Canada and the United States. The parents were divorced and the mother was initially awarded custody of the children, the father access.
Thereafter the mother moved with the children to Montana in the United States. In 1993, due to the mother’s work constraints, the parents signed an agreement stating that the father would keep the children for one year in Canada.
During the course of the year the father concluded that it would be in the children’s best interests for them to stay with him permanently. He applied to the Court of the Queen’s Bench of Alberta for a variation order in respect of the custody arrangement.
The mother was represented at the hearing. On 30 August 1994 the Court of the Queen’s Bench of Alberta made an interim variation order granting interim custody to the father.
On 30 September the mother applied for a return order under the Convention. On 15 November the mother applied to the Queen’s Bench to vacate the 30 August order.
The judge issued a declaratory order that the children were wrongfully retained in Alberta and ordered the father to return the children before the end of the year. On 14 December the father appealed.
