Supreme Court won’t hear Myriam Bedard’s appeal

OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday declined to consider the child-abduction case of Olympian Myriam Bedard, effectively upholding her conviction for abducting her own daughter and taking her to the United States.

A three-judge-panel, without giving reasons, refused to grant leave to appeal to Bedard, a double gold-medal winner in biathlon who has become more well known in recent years for her non-athletic pursuits.

The decision is the end of the road for Bedard, who was convicted three years ago by a jury, which concluded that she violated a joint-custody agreement with the child’s father, Jean Paquet, by taking their daughter out of the country without his consent.

The conviction was upheld earlier this year in the Quebec Court of Appeal, which rejected all arguments made by Bedard’s lawyer.

Bedard’s legal battle began in October 2006, when she and her partner, Nima Mazhari, took her daughter – who was then 11 years old – to the U.S. to protest against what they called “bureaucratic terrorism” by Canadian authorities.

Bedard alleged that the government was harassing her after she testified during the Gomery inquiry into the federal sponsorship scandal, where she made allegations about spending abuses at Via Rail, where she worked in marketing.

Paquet tesified during the trial that Bedard was trying to take his daughter away from him and that he only got to see her when Bedard said so.

Bedard’s lawyer contended that Paquet did not always exercise his visitation rights and had given consent for Bedard to take the girl to the U.S. by signing for her passport.

In the appeal court ruling, one of the judges raised the prospect that the trial judge gave an "inappropriate" address to the jury and failed to give them thorough answers to questions raised during deliberations.

Nonetheless, the judge sided with his colleagues in ruling against Bedard because he said that he didn’t believe the trial’s judge’s actions were a factor in the jury coming up with a guilty verdict.

Bedard was sentenced to two years’ probation and given an absolute discharge, which means she has no criminal record.