Родитель, похитивший дочь ради отказа от вакцинации, просит Верховный суд Канады пересмотреть его дело

A Saskatchewan father, whose professed bid to stop his daughter from being vaccinated earned him a conviction for abduction, hopes the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) will reconsider his case. On April 19, 2024, a jury found Jackson guilty of abduction in contravention of a parenting order. He received a one-year sentence on Dec. 6, 2024. Because he received credit for time served while on remand awaiting trial, Jackson's custodial sentence was considered already served. However, he was also ordered to spend two years on probation. The abduction charge was dated between Dec. 6, 2021 and Jan. 21, 2022. Police found Jackson, who’s from Carievale, Sask., along with the girl in Vernon, B.C. in late-February 2022. Jackson testified at trial that he’d taken his daughter — seven years old at the time — in a bid to stop her from being vaccinated for COVID-19. Jackson appealed to Saskatchewan's highest court, arguing the trial judge should've instructed the jury on the defence of necessity. The defence holds that a person is justified in breaking the law if they did so to avoid “imminent harm” and if certain legal requirements are present in the case. Further, Jackson argued the trial judge failed to make the proper considerations with regard to his sentence. However, a unanimous May 14 decision by three judges from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal dismissed that effort. Jackson has now filed what's called an application for leave to appeal at the SCC level. Essentially, it's a legal document asking that court's permission to appeal there. "The Supreme Court of Canada will only hear an appeal if the case raises a question of public importance," the SCC website states. "You must convince the Court that your case should be heard." This would include cases that involve constitutional interpretation, resolving conflicting appeal decisions from different courts or new areas of law, according to the site. The court wasn't able to provide requested copies of documents filed by Jackson before time of publication. Applications for leave to appeal filed with the SCC often provide information about why the applicant feels their case raises a question of public importance.