A Vancouver Island mother desperate to find her two-year-old daughter months after she was abducted by her estranged wife says her case highlights the lack of legal aid funding for family law cases and custody disputes.
Tasha Brown’s wife, Lauren Etchells, is accused of parental abduction after she defied a court order by leaving the country with their daughter, Kaydance Etchells, on May 8.
Saanich police are working with the RCMP and Interpol to try to locate Etchells and Kaydance.
Last year, Brown told a judge she feared Etchells, a dual Canadian and U.K. citizen, would remove Kaydance from Canada after she found one-way tickets to Qatar.
This prompted the judge to issue an order for Etchells to surrender Kaydance’s U.K. passport and not apply for a Canadian passport or leave Vancouver Island. Despite the court order, Etchells obtained a Canadian passport for Kaydance.
Brown said she has spent almost $50,000 in legal fees, only $1,000 of which has been covered by provincial legal aid.
She has also been assigned a lawyer in the U.K. — the cost of which is entirely covered by that country’s legal aid system.
“When you’re actually going through all of this, there aren’t a lot of resources [in B.C.],” Brown said.
Brown and Etchells married in August 2012. Etchells gave birth to Kaydance on Sept. 26, 2014, after the couple went through a sperm donor process.
They separated in July 2015. Etchells was awarded full custody, while Brown had visitation rights. She was fighting for equal custody rights.
Mark Benton, executive director of B.C.’s Legal Services Society, said provincial government funding for family legal aid is severely limited.
“The restrictions on family legal aid in B.C. are something that keep a lot of us here awake at night,” Benton said.
“The range of services we are able to provide is among the most limited in Canada.”
In order to be eligible for legal aid in family law cases, the individual must show there is a risk of violence, persistent denial of access to a child, or a risk that a child will be permanently removed from the province.
The person must also meet a financial eligibility test — a level that is essentially set at the poverty line, which Benton said excludes many lower-to-middle income individuals.
“What we have been doing for the last decade is this very limited level of assistance for people in emergencies,” Benton said. He noted that family legal aid in B.C. does not extend to spousal support, asset division or divorce, which is covered by legal aid in other provinces.
Of those who apply for legal aid, 75 per cent are women. Three out of five applications are refused.
Kasari Govender, executive director of West Coast Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, said there are major gender disparities in the family law system.
“That’s a huge issue in family law, that women don’t have access to family lawyers,” she said. “I think a lot of people feel really powerless when this happens. The only power they do have is through legal channels. But if they’re not able to access a lawyer, they’re not going to have power through legal channels either.”
Brown is also frustrated by the slow pace of the criminal law system, specifically that it took so long for abduction charges to be approved by Crown counsel.
She reported the case to Saanich police on May 14, and they requested a warrant for Etchells arrest on May 19. The B.C. Criminal Justice Branch approved charges on June 8, at which point a Canada-wide warrant was issued for Etchells.
By that time, Etchells, Kaydance and Etchells’ newborn had already left England for France.
“I was waiting for the Crown to approve the police’s charge [recommendation] of abduction. In that time span, Lauren was able to get out of England,” Brown said. “It was all about getting those charges, because that’s the only way Interpol could have gotten involved.”
The family could be anywhere in Europe, as U.K. citizens have freedom of movement across much of the continent.
The B.C. Criminal Justice Branch spokesman Dan McLaughlin said Crown prosecutors “moved expeditiously with this matter” and the charge approval time met provincial targets. Last year, 80 per cent of files that came before the branch were decided within 15 days and 87 per cent within 30 days, he said.
Etchells faces one count of abduction by a parent, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and two counts of disobeying a court order.
Police investigators do not believe Kaydance is at risk of physical harm, but are asking family and friends to provide details that might assist in bringing Kaydance back to Canada.
Saanich police are asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of Etchells or Kaydance to call 1-888-980-1919 or anonymously through CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
