Abductions and Kidnappings

279. (1) Every person commits an offence who kidnaps a person with intent

(a) to cause the person to be confined or imprisoned against the person's will;

(b) to cause the person to be unlawfully sent or transported out of Canada against the person's will; or

Forcible confinement (2) Every one who, without lawful authority, confines, imprisons or forcibly seizes another person is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding eighteen months.

Hostage taking 279.1 (1) Every one takes a person hostage who

(a) confines, imprisons, forcibly seizes or detains that person, and

(b) in any manner utters, conveys or causes any person to receive a threat that the death of, or bodily harm to, the hostage will be caused or that the confinement, imprisonment or detention of the hostage will be continued

with intent to induce any person, other than the hostage, or any group of persons or any state or international or intergovernmental organization to commit or cause to be committed any act or omission as a condition, whether express or implied, of the release of the hostage.

Hostage-taking (2) Every person who takes a person hostage is guilty of an indictable offence and liable

(a) where a firearm is used in the commission of the offence, to imprisonment for life and to a minimum punishment of imprisonment for a term of four years; and

(b) in any other case, to imprisonment for life.

Abduction of person under sixteen 280. (1) Every one who, without lawful authority, takes or causes to be taken an unmarried person under the age of sixteen years out of the possession of and against the will of the parent or guardian of that person or of any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

Definition of "guardian" (2) In this section and sections 281 to 283, "guardian" includes any person who has in law or in fact the custody or control of another person.

Abduction of person under fourteen 281. Every one who, not being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, unlawfully takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.

R.S., c. C-34, s. 250; 1980-81-82-83, c. 125, s. 20.

Abduction in contravention of custody order 282. (1) Every one who, being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person, in contravention of the custody provisions of a custody order in relation to that person made by a court anywhere in Canada, with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Abduction 283. (1) Every one who, being the parent, guardian or person having the lawful care or charge of a person under the age of fourteen years, takes, entices away, conceals, detains, receives or harbours that person, whether or not there is a custody order in relation to that person made by a court anywhere in Canada, with intent to deprive a parent or guardian, or any other person who has the lawful care or charge of that person, of the possession of that person, is guilty of

(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or

(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

International abductions of children

International parental abductions of children are a serious and growing problem for Canadians. Contributing factors include a rising divorce rate, inter-cultural relationships and a globalized economy.

Child abductions victimize both children and parents. Children who are denied access to both parents suffer emotionally and psychologically, especially when they are socially dislocated. Parents searching for abducted children endure anxiety and fear.

International parental abduction is a form of abuse that violates the child's fundamental rights. The issue merits urgent attention and action with appropriate governmental, professional and public support.

The Hague Convention

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction calls for children to be returned promptly to the country from which they were wrongfully removed. A child is wrongfully removed when he or she is under the age of sixteen and is taken to a foreign country without joint parental consent. Canada and twenty-five other signatories of the Hague Convention of 1983 have agreed to return such children, while respecting the domestic legal custody rights of each state and the well-being of the child.

More countries should be encouraged to join and support the Convention. While "only about half of all international child abduction cases have been resolved," results are better among Convention member-states. Legal authorities must have adequate resources, motivation and knowledge to process cases effectively.

Cases involving abductions to non-Hague countries could be assisted by appropriate bilateral treaties. These may be especially important with Islamic states, where domestic laws recognize the authority of the abducted child's father or maternal grandfather.

Current Canadian Responses

Missing Children's Registry. Canada’s Missing Children's Registry provides broad support to parents and police. This governmental service informs and assists police; prepares statistical bulletins and reports; supports prevention programs and agencies; facilitates international collaboration; and coordinates financial aid required by searching parents.

Police Intervention. Police must treat parental abductions of children as serious crimes. Although abduction may be difficult to prove in the absence of a custody order, police must be prepared to respond quickly and thoroughly to all abduction reports, and to request border lookouts where international abductions are suspected.

Extradition. Extradition treaties have been ineffective as tools for returning abducted children. Few extradition treaties cover child abductions, and those that do apply to the abductor, not the child. Foreign governments are usually reluctant to extradite their own nationals for this offence.

Passport Controls. Special passport procedures have been established to reduce the risk and incidence of parental child abductions. For example, a parent may request that their child's name be added to the Control List; absent parents are notified of application requests; and the standard five-day turnarounds do not apply.

Amber Alert

The Amber Alert System is a critical missing child response program that utilizes the resources of law enforcement and media to notify the public when children are kidnapped by predators.

Although the scope of the Amber Alert varies, the criteria for activation are fairly consistent.

Whether it is a local, regional or statewide program, law enforcement activates an Amber Alert by notifying broadcast media with relevant identifying and case information when circumstances meets the following criteria:

The missing child is of a pre-determined age.
The law enforcement agency believes the child has been kidnapped.
The agency believes the missing child is under threat of serious bodily harm or death.

Once they receive the Amber Alert radio and television stations interrupt regularly scheduled programming to notify the public that a child has been kidnapped. Because 95% of all people driving in their cars listen to the radio, this is an extremely effective way of providing descriptions of the child, the kidnapper, vehicles or accomplices.

Besides turning the public into instant investigators when children are kidnapped, benefits of the Amber Alert include:

It is free.
It encourages participation between natural adversaries, law enforcement and media by drawing on their inherent strengths.
It promotes accountability by creating the foundation of a comprehensive missing child protocol.
It is an effective time critical response to kidnappers who can disappear with children at the rate of a mile per minute.
It sends a powerful message to would-be kidnappers that this is a community that cares about and protects children.
It saves lives.

Initially prompted by citizen concerns following the tragic 1996 kidnapping and murder of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman in Arlington, Texas, the concept has been embraced by all segments of society.

A sampling of the pro-active, diversified citizens inspired to implement variations on the Amber Alert include:

Mrs. Robin Trumbull, a young mother with a strong social conscience created the statewide Michigan Amber Alert after hearing about it at a KlaasKids Foundation sponsored town hall meeting.
To give meaning to the death of their kidnapped daughter Traci, Chris and Terry Conrad initiated the localized Corcoran, California TRACI Alert.
To create a legacy in the name of her kidnapped daughter, Colleen Nick inspired the Arkansas’ statewide Morgan Nick Alert.
A sense of duty drove Officer John Goad of the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons to begin the regional NC CAN Alert System.

    Because progress in the effort to recover kidnapped children is glacial, great ideas like the Amber Alert should be enthusiastically embraced, supported and promoted whenever possible.   Had the Amber Alert existed when Polly Klaas was kidnapped in 1993, she might very well be alive today.   Although law enforcement had her killer in their custody within sixty minutes of the crime, they helped him pull his car out of a ditch instead of arresting him because they were unaware that a child had been kidnapped.

    Our goal is to protect every child with one of the most brilliant ideas yet devised in the battle to recover kidnapped children.

    So, in order to remain current we encourage law enforcement agencies, broadcast media and the public to provide updated information that we may include in our comparative analysis of the Amber Alert.