Court Rules Mexican Mother Can Stay in Canada Until Custody Hearing McGinty Doucet Walker
go to original February 8, 2014

Quebec women’s groups and refugee advocates fear the imminent deportation to Mexico of a mother without her Canadian-born baby is not only cruel; it sends the wrong message to other immigrant women stuck in abusive relationships. (Marie-France Coallier/The Gazette)

A federal court has ruled that a Mexican woman may remain in Canada until a March 6, 2014, hearing that will decide the fate of her 1-year-old son. The woman hopes to be reunited with the boy after losing child custody rights due to her lack of legal status. She had been due to be deported without her son on Feb. 7, but her lawyer filed a motion to contest the order.

Ivonne Hernandez Segura came to Canada in 2009, and she filed for refugee status in hopes of staying legally. Her refugee claim was made based on abuse that she said she suffered at the hands of a police officer in her home city in Mexico. However, her claim was rejected in 2011. During her time in Canada, the women met and married a Canadian citizen. She later had a son with the man.

However, the marriage was not a happy one, and the woman left her husband and entered into a joint custody arrangement with him. She subsequently sought help at a woman's shelter and made claims that she had been the victim of domestic abuse during her marriage. It is believed that the woman's current legal problems were initiated by her former husband. He is said to have notified immigration officials about her situation after she made the allegations of abuse.

Read the rest at MDWLaw.ca

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