A Vancouver Island woman intends to apply to an overseas court to try to have her allegedly abducted daughter returned to Canada.

Tasha Brown held a press conference Tuesday at the Nanaimo Golf Club to announce her intentions as she continues her efforts to see four-year-old daughter Kaydance Etchells come home.

Brown alleges that her estranged wife Lauren Etchells abducted their daughter in 2016 and according to Brown鈥檚 lawyer Elisabeth Strain, Lauren Etchells is in custody in Jersey in the British Isles.

Brown has secured legal representation in Jersey and says her lawyer there will make an application to the British courts, arguing Hague Convention protection. According to the Government of Canada, the Hague Convention 鈥減rotects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill-prepared adoptions abroad.鈥�

Brown said she doesn鈥檛 know if or when the case would be heard, but said she plans to travel to Jersey once her paperwork is in order. She expressed some concern about Jersey鈥檚 courts recognizing her rights as a same-sex parent.

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Earlier this month, Saanich Police learned that Lauren Etchells, her parents and her two children, Kaydance and Marcus, had been picked up by the States of Jersey Police and Jersey Customs and Immigration Service. The group was spotted landing an inflatable dinghy on the shores just south of St. Catherine, Jersey, an island in the English Channel.

鈥淔or the most part of this, I鈥檝e thought that they鈥檝e been on a beach frolicking freely and laughing while I was crumbling,鈥� said Brown. 鈥淪o to actually learn that they鈥檝e gone to this kind of extent to actually risk those kids鈥� lives, I don鈥檛 think anyone would have predicted that.鈥�

Saanich Police had worked with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Interpol trying to locate Lauren Etchells since 2016. A Canada-wide warrant was issued.

Strain said her client鈥檚 case is important in trying to show that 鈥淸for] left-behind parents, sometimes this does work out.鈥�

Brown said she will continue to update the Facebook page 鈥樷��

鈥淓verybody wants a happy ending,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat is the happy ending?鈥�

-files from Kendra Crighton/Black Press

editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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