An Algerian father residing in Canada is opposing a Crown prosecutor's request to extradite his two children to Algeria. The case involves allegations that the children were wrongfully removed from Canada by their mother in 2024.
According to court documents, the father, who has legal custody in Canada, reported the children missing after they failed to return from a scheduled visit with their mother. Algerian authorities later located the children in that country with their mother.
The Crown is seeking the children's return to Algeria under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, to which both Canada and Algeria are signatories. The convention aims to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed to or retained in any contracting state.
The father's legal team argues that returning the children to Algeria would expose them to grave risk of harm, citing specific concerns about the mother's circumstances and the children's welfare. A Canadian judge is now tasked with determining whether the conditions for extradition under the Hague Convention are met.
