‘She does not deserve this’: Regina mother appeals for missing daughter’s safe return

In an interview with Global News, Regina mother Mariecar Jackson renewed pleas for the safe return of her seven-year-old daughter, whom she hasn’t seen since mid-November.

“Mommy will never stop, will never stop fighting for you. I just want you to know just hang in there and mommy will return you home,” Mariecar said through tears Monday evening.

On Friday, Saskatchewan RCMP charged Michael Gordon Jackson with “abduction in contravention of custody or parenting order” and issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest. As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrest had yet been announced.

According to Mariecar, she last saw her daughter before Michael picked her up for a court-scheduled five-day parenting visit in Carievale, Sask., on Nov. 10, 2021. She said Michael told her via text message late in the day on Nov. 15 that he had no plans to return their daughter to Regina that day. Mariecar said Michael told her to instead pick up their daughter on Nov. 20, but that when she arrived in the small southeastern town that day, nobody answered the door.

On Nov. 26, Mariecar and her lawyer first sought police assistance to enforce the parenting agreement, but she says that by that time, “they were gone.”

Mariecar, her lawyer and police have not been able to contact him since.

Asked for her message to her ex-husband, Mariecar said the following: “It’s not about you. It’s not about me, Michael. It’s about (our daughter). Life in hiding for a seven-year-old is not the best life we can give to our kids.”

“She does not deserve this. She does not deserve this.”

Michael’s motives have been tied to anti-vaccination beliefs after he appeared on Live with Laura-Lynn on Rumble in early January, speaking with the host about how he does not want his daughter to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Part of Mariecar and Michael’s legal agreement gave Mariecar final decision-making power for their daughter, which would include decisions on health-care procedures.

Mariecar and her lawyer Jill Drennan, meanwhile, maintain that the anti-vaccination views are simply the latest excuse to continue an established pattern of ignoring court-ordered parenting arrangements.

“There were instances where Mr. Jackson overheld (his daughter) past his court-ordered parenting time and that necessitated police assistance on a number of times,” Drennan said, adding that the original 2019 court order scheduling parental visits and granting joint custody was varied on Jan. 5.

“There has been a real history on this file of Mr. Jackson overholding (his daughter) pre-pandemic. It appears as though this is simply his current justification for what has been a historic pattern of not complying with court orders.”

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Mariecar now has full custody of her daughter and parenting time must now be supervised. The Jan. 5 order also granted police assistance to return the girl to Mariecar’s care similar to the order made Nov. 26.

But with RCMP not laying charges until last week, Mariecar says she wishes action could have come sooner. She said she worries about the amount of time Michael has had to travel since November.

“It could have been sooner so that my daughter, you know, would have still been around,” she said, adding she has no idea they may be.

“I just wish that they could do more by putting an Amber Alert out there.”

Saskatchewan RCMP sent Global News the following Amber Alert criteria Tuesday when asked why one has not been issued:

• The missing person is under 18 or an individual who is severely cognitively delayed or disabled.
• An investigation has confirmed either abduction by a stranger or abduction (parental or non-parental) where circumstances lead police to believe that an abducted person is in danger of bodily harm or death;
• There is enough descriptive information about the abducted person, the abductor or suspect vehicle to ensure the public can identify these elements;
• The alert can be issued in a time frame that would provide a reasonable expectation that the abducted person could be returned or the abductor could be apprehended.

In response to the question of why charges weren’t laid and a warrant not sought sooner, RCMP referred Global to their Friday media release.

“I know in my heart that she is in danger,” Mariecar said Monday.

“We have social a responsibility for a missing child and she has to be returned.”

RCMP say Michael may have connections to the communities of Dilke, Oxbow, Alameda and Regina, as well as Lamont, Alta.

He does not have a known vehicle, but they say he may be in other communities.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Jackson or his daughter is asked to call the Saskatchewan RCMP at 310-RCMP (7267) or (306) 780-5563.  Information can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1‐800‐222‐TIPS (8477) or saskcrimestoppers.com.