July 8, 2021 – Appeals of Hague Convention Cases

“Over the course of a three day trial, the application judge heard testimony from 8 witnesses and reviewed the written record containing 20 affidavits. As this court stated in A.M.R.I. v. K.E.R., 2011 ONCA 417, at para. 88,

Hague application judge’s decision attracts considerable deference from this court … [A]ppellate review of a Hague decision is not a hearing de novo or an invitation to relitigate the matters determined on the application: Katsigiannis at para. 30; Korutowska-Wooff v. Wooff, 2004 CanLII 5548 (ON CA), [2004] O.J. No. 3256, 242 D.L.R. (4th) 385 (C.A.), at para. 10.  But, the deference usually accorded to a Hague ruling is displaced where the Hague application judge applied the wrong legal principles or made unreasonable findings of fact: see Jabbaz v. Mouammar, 2003 CanLII 37565 (ON CA), [2003] O.J. No. 1616, 171 O.A.C. 102 (C.A.), at para. 36; Katsigiannis, at para. 31.”

Bazargani v. Mizael, 2015 ONCA 517 (CanLII) at 12