Hello:

If the child is in Canada, she would not really need his consent to travel at all. It is not illegal for her to leave the province with her child, as long as the father knows where she is going and there is no intent to try permanently leave or create a situation of parental abduction.

But obviously taking such unilateral actions can make a bad situation worse as far as trying to keep a separation as amicable as possible, and while legal could be viewed later by a family court judge as high handed or inappropriate.

Absent getting his consent, the other option is to apply in family court for an order specifying that she is allowed to make the trip with the child. If the court thinks his fears of kidnapping are genuine ( and they will need more than bald speculation on this point), maybe they will order that the child pr mother's passports be surrendered or other orders to give some assurance the child won't leave the country, or perhaps provide an itinerary of where the mother will be during the trip and allow the father to contact her and the son each day. If the court sees no reason to object to the travel it may order that the father pay court costs to the mother for not being reasonable and agreeing to the travel.

If he relents in the face of the court application and consents to the travel she should get that consent confirmed in writing in some fashion.

This type of order is an interim order and can be made in advance of a full custody trial ( if there will be one) and so an order can usually be put in place within a few weeks.

It is not mandatory to have a lawyer for such an application, but an experienced family law lawyer will be of much assistance, particularly as this has signs of not being the. Only matter they will disagree upon regarding matters of decision making for the child. We cannot give specific lawyers names as referrals on this site, but I can suggest that she contact the BC branch of the Canadian bar Association which has a free lawyer referral service. She will be given several names and the lawyers can meet with her for an initial interview at $ 25.00 so that she can decide how to proceed from there.