Child Abduction Legal Information

MAX BLITT, Q.C.

Max Blitt provides legal services in the areas of Real Estate, Family Law, Wills and Estates. Max Blitt has also had extensive experience dealing with the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions in additional to international property and support issues. He has personally been involved in assisting clients and legal counsel to recover children that have been abducted by parents and relatives to other Provinces in Canada, the United States, Poland, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Sweden, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Bulgaria, China, Bangladesh, India, Australia, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. Mr. Blitt holds a Bachelor of Arts (Pre-Law) degree from the University of Calgary, as well as a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Alberta.

Max Blitt has been a Senior Lawyer with Spier Harben since 1993 and has been involved in litigation involving all Court levels up to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Legal Cases

1. Max Blitt KC was the winning trial counsel on Morad v. Iannone

   During the month of October 2023, Max Blitt KC represented two left behind parents, namely a father in Denmark, and a mother in the UK. After two hearings, each a week apart in Edmonton, Alberta, Max Blitt was successful in securing return orders for the father’s two children to Denmark, and the mother’s son to the UK. The abducting mother in the Danish case was unsuccessful in arguing that the father consented to the move to Alberta. In the UK case the father was unsuccessful in arguing grave risk of harm. All three children were back with their left behind parent in less than a week from the date of each Judgment.

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2. Valenzuela-Sone v. Barnachea, 2023 ABKB 495

   Valenzuela-Sone v. Barnachea, 2023 ABKB 495, held that the Court has jurisdiction, where appropriate, to grant an interim return-child order where habitually-resident-in-Alberta children have been relocated out of Canada in breach of the Divorce Act’s relocation provisions.

   By way of background, the parties were married in 1999. They have twin 16-year-old daughters. They physically separated in January 2023. The father learned in May 2023 that the mother intended to move to Chile with the twins, without telling him. The father started a divorce in Edmonton, Alberta in May 2023, which stipulated his objection to the children being relocated. The mother removed the twins to Chile in June 2023 without providing the statutory notice or alerting the father.

   Section 16.9(1) of the recently amended Divorce Act requires a parent to provide 60 days notice of a proposed relocation. Section 16.91 (1) allows the receiving parent 30 days to object or apply to the court to oppose the relocation, or the relocating parent can move. The mother did not obtain court authorization or provide advance notice, regarding the relocation.

   Justice Lema reviewed section 6.2 of the Divorce Act and concluded that it likely only applied to removals to another province in Canada, not outside of the country. The Court did find it had jurisdiction to make a general parenting order under s. 16.1 as the father had resided in Alberta for 14 years. The Court held that s. 16.1 could also prohibit relocation or removal of the child from a specified geographic area without consent or a court order.

   The mother did not launch any Chilean parenting proceedings, so the issue of forum conveniens did not arise.

   Jurisdiction to grant a return order could also be found in the court’s parens patriae authority. J. Lema cited E. v. Eve [1986] 2 SCR 388 [Supreme Court of Canada] for the proposition that: “…even where there is legislation in the area, the courts will continue to use parens patriae jurisdiction to deal with uncontemplated situations where it appears necessary to do so for the protection of those who fall within its ambit.”

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Education

• Bachelor of Arts (Pre-Law), University of Calgary, 1973.
• Bachelor of Laws, University of Alberta, 1974.

Certification

• Member of the Law Society of Alberta.
• Appointed Queen’s Counsel of Alberta.

Professional Affiliations

• Canadian Bar Association
• Calgary Bar Association
• Canada Family Mediation Society
• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (International)
• Member of Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association
• Canadian Wildlife Federation Member.
• International Academy of Family Lawyers
• Member International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN)
• International Bar Association
• UK and Wales Bar Association (International)
• American Bar Association (International)
• UK Reunite Roster Lawyer

Professional Activities/Presentations

• • May/June 2007 Washington, D.C. Attended the 44th Annual Conference of Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); “Judicial Officers Forum:

International Child Abduction” and “International Child Abduction: risk Factors and Prevention.”.

• • Panellist, CFCN TV Re: Child Abductions
  • Speaker, Child Find Alberta 1989 Conference, Legal Aspects of Child Abduction.
  • Canadian Bar Association, Mid-Winter Meeting, Organizing Committee – Legal Aspects of Child Abduction.
  • Article contained in Law Now, University of Alberta, International Child Abductions, October/November 2003.
  • Speaker, AMECO (Association of Missing and Exploited Children’s Organizations) Case Manager Training Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 2003.
  • Speaker, Northwest Coalition of Missing Children Investigators and Professionals Symposium, April 2005, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • Article contained in Law Now, University of Alberta, International Child Abductions, October/November 2003.
  • Speaker, AMECO (Association of Missing and Exploited Children’s Organizations) Case Manager Training Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, December 2003.
  • Speaker, Northwest Coalition of Missing Children Investigators and Professionals Symposium, April 2005, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
  • Speaker, Prairie Regional Our Missing Children Conference, Canada Border Services Agency, Calgary, Alberta, October 2005.
  • May/June 2007 Washington, D.C. Attended the 44th Annual Conference of Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC); “Judicial Officers

Forum:International Child Abduction” and “International Child Abduction: Risk Factors and Prevention.”.

• • Court Appointed Dispute Resolution Officer with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (2006 to present)
  • Negotiations / Advocacy Assessment Instructor for the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education 2008-Present (Bar Admission Course)
  • Ismailis International Mediation Training – Vancouver, BC., September 2009
  • Canadian Delegation Speaker (Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade) on Missing and Abducted Children’s Issues in Tokyo, Japan 2009 / 2010
  • Vancouver, BC – International Bar Association, Presenter Mock Trial of a full Hague Convention International Child Abduction Case, October 2010
  • Law Now Article “Cross-Cultural Mediation,” University of Alberta, January 2011.
  • Appointed to the Family Law Advisory Committee of the Law Society of Alberta 2011
  • Speaker on Missing and Abducted Children’s Issues in Tokyo, Japan 2009 / 2010
  • Member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Roundtable Discussions on Developing an International Protocol for Mediating

Cross-Border Disputes

• • Article titled “Cross-Border Mediation” in Law Now, University of Alberta, January 2011
  • Faculty Member of the Federal / Provincial Canadian Judge’s Conference (National Judicial Institute) in February 2011
  • Lecturer in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2011-“Canadian Experience in International Child Abductions”
  • Invited to Present to the International Bar Association in Dubai, on the Canadian Perspective on Sharia Law and Enforcement of Orders from Non-Hague Convention

Countries, November 2011

• • Alberta Law Conference, Calgary, Alberta – Chair Person regarding the law relating to Internationally and Domestically Abducted Children, January 2012
  • Published Paper on the Voice of the Child In Hague Convention Child Abduction cases for the International Bar Association Newsletter, September 2012
  • 6th World Congress on Family Law and Children’s Rights, Sydney Australia- Presented on the Voice of the Child in the context of the Hague Convention on the

Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions, March 2013

• • Canadian Bar Association Annual Meeting, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-Presenter on the Hague Convention and the Rights of the Child to Legal Representation, August

2013

• Paper for the International Bar Association, Challenges Facing Counsel for Children in the Context of the Hague Convention, September 2013
• Canadian Bar Association Webinar on the Operation of the Hague Convention and the Role of the Child’s Lawyer, May 2014
• Canadian Bar Association Webinar on Child Abduction: Prevention of & Response to National & International Cases, October 2014 (new)
• October 2015 International Academy of Family Lawyer’s Conference in Quebec City, presented ‘Voice of Child’ in the context of the Hague Convention;
• September 2016 Canadian Bar Association and Agha Khan Ismailis Council, Calgary, Joint Presentation on Cultural and Religious Issues in Mediation, Chairperson;

Volunteer Work

• Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter, Director, Calgary.
• Alberta Mediation Society, Director, Calgary.
• Child Find Alberta, Past-President.
• Child Find Canada, Director.
• Calgary Zoo, Trustee.
• Calgary Zoo Foundation, Past-Chairman.
• Legal Aid Society of Alberta, Appeals Committee.
• Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society.
• Calgary Legal Guidance.