If your child has already been taken to another country, it is important to know whether that country has a reciprocal agreement with Canada under the Hague Convention. A reciprocity agreement is an international agreement where a country agrees to send the children back to their home country to decide decision-making responsibility and parenting time . These used to be called custody and access .
The Hague Convention status table lists the countries that have signed the Hague Convention. It is updated whenever the Hague Convention applies in a new country. But, some countries listed on the status table do not have a reciprocal agreement with Canada.
As of January 2019, the Hague Convention applies between Canada and the following countries:
| Albania Andorra Argentina Australia Austria Bahamas Belarus Belgium Belize Bermuda Bosnia and Herzegovina Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cayman Islands Chile Columbia Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark (except Faroe Islands and Greenland) Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Estonia Falkland Islands Fiji Finland France | Georgia Germany Greece Honduras Hong Kong (Special Administration Region of China) Hungary Iceland Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Japan Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macau (Special Administration Region of China) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Malta Mauritius Mexico Morocco Moldova Monaco Montenegro Montserrat Netherlands New Zealand | Norway Panama Paraguay Peru Poland Portugal Romania St. Kitts and Nevis San Marino Serbia Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sweden Switzerland Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Turkmenistan United Kingdom United States of America Ukraine Uruguay Uzbekistan Venezuela Zimbabwe |
If the country your child has been taken to is on this list, you can get authorities in your province to help you get your child returned to Canada. This is still difficult, but it lets you work with officials in your province instead of officials in the other country.
Your Hague Convention application will be managed through your province. They will give you information on making an application, including what steps you need to take and what documents you need to give.
If the country your child has been taken to is not on this list, they do not have a reciprocity agreement with Canada. In these situations, it is very difficult to get your child returned to Canada. You can contact the Case Management Officers with the Consular Family Unit at Global Affairs Canada for help.