Grandmother of P.E.I. boy sent to Alberta still waiting, 6 months after top court ruling

A P.E.I. woman whose grandson was taken from her by provincial child protection officials nearly three years ago says she will never give up hope they will be reunited, as the Supreme Court of Canada has ordered.

The Charlottetown woman said she had many sleepless nights after the director of child protection removed the boy in August 2019, and placed him with foster parents who were strangers to him. 

Four weeks later, the director sent the boy to Alberta, for a visit with his biological father that was supposed to last for three weeks.

The boy has never come back to P.E.I. — despite a Supreme Court of Canada ruling last December that said it was in his best interest to live with the maternal grandmother who had been his caregiver for most of his life, rather than the father he had met just a few months before his removal.   

"This case has been going on for over two and a half years. That's not right. That's not right. This is a little boy's life that's in limbo," said the grandmother.

The Charlottetown woman puts the blame for that limbo on provincial child protection officials.

She says they placed the boy "in three or four different foster homes … after he was apprehended, not allowing the maternal grandmother to take care of the child. After all, I brought him up… since he was a small, little baby.

"They turned me down. That was wrong, very, very wrong." 

Wendy McCourt was Prince Edward Island's director of child protection at the time of the events described in the Supreme Court of Canada ruling, but has since retired. CBC News tried to reach her for comment about her actions, but she did not return phone calls.

CBC News is not naming the woman, the boy or his father in order to protect the identity of the child. 

Choking back tears, the grandmother told CBC News during an interview at her house that she wants only what is best for her grandson, who is now eight.

She believes that is living with her in Prince Edward Island, a stand that is supported by the Supreme Court of Canada.

When she spoke to the boy after he was flown to Alberta in 2019, she said, he "would beg me to ask the judge to bring him home.

"He begged. He said, 'Please, Nanna, ask the judge to bring me home.' I said, 'I'll see what I can do,'" the woman said, wiping tears from her eyes.