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In Arizona our Supreme Court did a year long study and issued a report with recommendations that was sent to our legislature. A very reasonable report by serious, professional, credentialed people making recommendations that would make a significant impact in the system. Here is the executive summary so you can see it’s not frivolous in any way. Unfortunately it had no success in 2017. They will try again in 2018 but it’s a hard battle in our legislature.How long will it take? If we do not change our elected officials, it will take a long time. If there is no vested interest in reducing prison occupancy, it will take a long time. As Americans it is up to us to decide.TASK FORCE ON FAIR JUSTICE FOR ALL:Court-Ordered Fines, Fees, and Pretrial Release PoliciesChair – Mr. Dave Byers, Administrative Director, AOC Vice-Chair – Mr. Tom O’Connell, Pretrial Manager, AOCMr. Kent Batty, Court Administrator, Superior Court in Pima CountyHonorable Michael Robert Bluff, Associate Presiding Judge Superior Court in Yavapai CountyHonorable Maria Elena Cruz, Presiding Judge, Superior Court, Yuma CountyMr. Bob James, Deputy Court Administrator Superior Court, Maricopa CountyMs. Rebecca Steele, Deputy Director, Maricopa County Clerk of CourtHonorable Lisa Roberts , Commissioner, Superior Court in Maricopa CountyHonorable Dorothy Little, President, Arizona Justice of the Peace Association,Payson Magistrate CourtMEMBERSHonorable Antonio Riojas, Presiding Magistrate Tucson City CourtHonorable Thomas Robinson, Tempe Municipal CourtHonorable Don Taylor, Chief Presiding Judge Phoenix Municipal CourtMr. Doug Kooi, Court Administrator, Pima County Consolidated Justice CourtMr. Jeffrey Fine, Court Administrator, Maricopa County Justice CourtsMr. Michael Kurtenbach, Assistant Chief Community Services Division,City of Phoenix Police DepartmentMs. India Davis, Corrections Chief, Pima County Sheriff’s DepartmentMs. Mary Ellen Sheppard, Assistant County Manager Maricopa CountyiiiMr. Ryan Glover, Prosecutor, Glendale City Prosecutor’s OfficeMr. Paul Julien, Judicial Education Officer Education Services Division, AOC Judge Pro TemMs. Kathy Waters, Director, Adult Probation Services, AOC Liaison to Pretrial Advisory CommitteeMr. Jeremy Mussman, Deputy Director, Maricopa County Public Defender’s OfficeMr. Tony Penn, Arizona Judicial Council Public Member RepresentativePresident and CEO, United Way of Tucson and Southern ArizonaHonorable John Hudson, Presiding Judge, Gilbert Municipal CourtMr. Leonardo Ruiz, Deputy County Attorney Maricopa County Attorney’s OfficeMs. Dianne Post, Attorney, Arizona State NAACPMs. Alessandra Soler , Executive Director of the Arizona ACLUAOC Staff:Ms. Theresa Barrett, Court Programs Unit, Manager Court Services DivisionMs. Kathy Sekardi, Senior Court Policy Analyst Court Services DivisionMr. Patrick Scott, Senior Court Policy Analyst Court Services DivisionMs. Kay Radwanski, Senior Court Policy Analyst Court Services DivisionMs. Susan Pickard, Court Specialist, Court Services DivisionMs. Sabrina Nash, Administrative Assistant Court Services DivisionMs. Susan Hunt, Executive Assistant Executive OfficeivJustice for AllReport and Recommendations of the Task Force on Fair Justice for All: Court-Ordered Fines, Penalties, Fees, and Pretrial Release PoliciesExecutive SummaryTASK FORCE PURPOSEOn March 3, 2016, Chief Justice Scott Bales issued Administrative Order No. 2016-16, which established the Task Force on Fair Justice for All: Court-Ordered Fines, Penalties, Fees, and Pretrial Release Policies. The administrative order outlined the purpose of the task force as to study and make recommendations as follows:a) Recommend statutory changes, if needed, court rules, written policies, and processes and procedures for setting, collecting, and reducing or waiving court- imposed payments.b) Recommend options for people who cannot pay the full amount of a sanction at the time of sentencing to make reasonable time payments or perform community service in lieu of some or all of the fine or sanction.c) Recommend best practices for making release decisions that protect the public but do not keep people in jail solely for the inability to pay bail.d) Review the practice of suspending driver’s licenses1 and consider alternatives to license suspension.1 Throughout this report, the terminology for a driver’s license is used to reflect driving privileges or a driver license as defined in the Arizona Revised Statutes.This report describes the work and recommendations of the members of the Task Force on Fair Justice for All and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the members of the Arizona Supreme Court.1Justice for Alle) Recommend educational programs for judicial officers, including pro tem judges and court staff who are part of the pretrial decision-making process.f) Identify technological solutions and other best practices that provide defendant notifications of court dates and other court-ordered deadlines using mobile applications to reduce the number of defendants who fail to appear for court and to encourage people who receive citations to come to court.The Chief Justice asked the task force to file a report and make recommendations to the Arizona Judicial Council (AJC) by October 31, 2016. The report that follows consists of 53 recommendations, plus additional educational and training recommendations for the AJC’s review and consideration.TASK FORCE ABBREVIATED RECOMMENDATIONSThe annotated recommendations are set forth in more detail in the body of the report. Below is an abbreviated list with links to the full recommendations.Authorize judges to mitigate mandatory minimum fines, fees, surcharges, and penalties if the amount otherwise imposes an unfair economic hardship.Use automated tools to determine a defendant’s ability to pay.Create a Simplified Payment Ability Form when evaluating a defendant’s ability to pay.Use means-tested assistance program qualification as evidence of a defendant’s limited ability to pay.Seek legislation to reclassify certain criminal charges to civil violations for first-time offenses.Implement the Phoenix Municipal Court’s Compliance Assistance Program statewide.Conduct a pilot program that combines the Phoenix Municipal Court’s Compliance Assistance Program with a fine reduction program and reinstatement of defendants’ drivers’ licenses.Test techniques to make it easier for defendants to make time payments on court- imposed financial sanctions.Seek legislation that would grant courts discretion to close cases and write off fines and fees for traffic and misdemeanor after a 20-year period if reasonable collection efforts have not been effective.2Justice for AllAllow probationers to receive earned time credit without consideration of financial assessments, other than restitution to victims.Eliminate or reduce the imposition of the 10 percent annual interest rate on any Criminal Restitution Order.Modify court website information, bond cards, reminder letters, FARE (Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement) letters, and instructions for online citation payment to explain that if the defendant intends to plead guilty or responsible but cannot afford to pay the full amount of the court sanctions at the time of the hearing, the defendant may request a time payment plan.Authorize judges to impose a direct sentence that may include community restitution (service) and education and treatment programs as available sentencing options for misdemeanor offenses.Expand community restitution (service) to be applied to surcharges, as well as fines and fees, and expand this option to sentences imposed by superior courts.Implement English and Spanish Interactive Voice Response (IVR), email, or a text messaging system to remind defendants of court dates, missed payments, and other actions to reduce failures to appear.Modify forms to collect cell phone numbers, secondary phone numbers, and email addresses.Train staff to verify and update contact information for defendants at every opportunity.Provide information to law enforcement agencies regarding the importance of gathering current contact information on the citation form.After a defendant fails to appear, notify the defendant that a warrant will be issued unless the defendant comes to court within five days.For courts operating pretrial service programs, allow pretrial services five days to re-engage defendants who have missed scheduled court dates and delay the issuance of a failure to appear warrant for those defendants who appear on the rescheduled dates.Authorize the court to quash a warrant for failure to appear and reschedule a new court date for a defendant who voluntarily appears in court after a warrant has been issued.3Justice for AllConsider increasing access to the court (e.g., offering hours at night, on weekends, or extending regular hours, taking the court to people in remote areas, and allowing remote video and telephonic appearances).Develop and pilot a system that communicates in English and Spanish (such as video avatars) to provide explanations of options available to defendants who receive tickets or citations.24. Clarify on court informational websites and bond cards that defendants may come to court before the designated court date to resolve a civil traffic case and explain how to reschedule the hearing for those defendants who cannot appear on the scheduled dates.25. Implement the ability to email proof of compliance with a law—such as proof of insurance—to the court to avoid having to appear in person.26. Suspend a driver’s license as a last resort, not a first step.Make a first offense of driving on a suspended license a civil violation rather than a criminal offense.Provide courts with the ability to collect and use updated contact information, such as a database service, before issuing a warrant or a reminder in aging cases.Authorize courts to impose restrictions on driving—such as “to and from work only”—as an alternative to suspending a driver’s license altogether.Prior to or in lieu of issuing a warrant to bring a person to court for failure to pay, courts should employ proactive practices that promote voluntary compliance and appearance.Support renewing efforts to encourage the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators to approach Congress about extending the federal tax intercept program to include intercepting federal tax refunds to pay victim restitution awards, with an exception for those who are eligible for the earned income tax credit.Promote the use of restitution courts, status conferences, and probation review hearings that ensure due process and consider the wishes of the victim. Provide judicial training on the appropriate use of Orders to Show Cause in lieu of warrants and appointment of counsel at hearings involving a defendant’s loss of liberty.Coordinate where possible with the local regional behavioral health authority to assist the court or pretrial services in identifying defendants who have previously been diagnosed as mentally ill.4Justice for AllRevise mental health competency statutes for expediting mental competency proceedings for misdemeanor cases.Bring together criminal justice and mental health stakeholders in larger jurisdictions to adopt protocols for addressing people with mental health issues who have been brought to court.Consider the use of specialty courts and other available resources to address a defendant’s treatment and service needs, as well as risk to the community, when processing cases involving persons with mental health needs or other specialized groups.Modify Form 6–Release Order and Form 7–Appearance Bond to simplify language and clarify defendants’ rights in an easy-to-understand format.Eliminate the use of non-traffic criminal bond schedules.Amend Rule 7.4, Rules of Criminal Procedure, to require the appointment of counsel if a person remains in jail after the initial appearance.Clarify by rule that small bonds ($5-100) are not required to ensure that the defendant gets credit for time served when defendant is also being held in another case.Authorize the court to temporarily release a “hold” from a limited jurisdiction court and order placement directly into a substance abuse treatment program upon recommendation of the probation department.Expedite the bond process to facilitate timely release to treatment programs.43. Request amendment of A.R.S. § 13-3961(D) and (E) (Offenses not bailable; purpose; preconviction; exceptions) to authorize the court, on its own motion, to set a hearing to determine whether a defendant should be held without bail.Encourage the presence of court-appointed counsel and prosecutors at initial appearance hearings to assist the court in determining appropriate release conditions and to resolve misdemeanor cases.Request the legislature to refer to the people an amendment to the Arizona Constitution to expand preventive detention to allow courts to detain defendants when the court determines that the release will not reasonably assure the appearance of the person as required, in addition to when the defendant’s release will not reasonably assure the safety of other persons or the community.Eliminate the requirement for cash surety to the greatest extent possible and instead impose reasonable conditions based on the individual’s risk.5Justice for All47. Eliminate the use of a cash bond to secure a defendant’s appearance.48. Expand the use of the public safety risk assessment to limited jurisdiction courts.49. Encourage collaboration between limited jurisdiction courts and pretrial service agencies in superior courts in preparing or providing pretrial risk assessments for limited jurisdiction cases.Establish information sharing between a superior court that has conducted a pretrial risk assessment and a limited jurisdiction court when the defendant is arrested for charges in multiple courts and a release decision must be made in multiple jurisdictions.Request the Arnold Foundation to conduct research on the impact of immigration status on the likelihood of not returning to court if released to ascertain whether it is good public policy to hold these defendants on cash bond.Encourage the Arnold Foundation to conduct periodic reviews to revalidate the Public Safety Assessment [PSA] tool as to its effect on minority populations.53. Provide data to judicial officers to show the effectiveness of the risk assessment tool in actual operation.Develop an educational plan and conduct mandatory training for all judicial officers.Create multi-layer training (court personnel and judicial staff) to include a practical operational curriculum.Develop online training modules for future judicial officers.Host a one-day kick-off summit inviting all stakeholders (law enforcement, prosecutors, county attorneys, public defenders, city council and county board members, the League of Towns and Cities, criminal justice commissions, legislature, and presiding judges) to educate and inform about recommendations of the task force and provide direction for leadership to initiate the shift to a risk-based system rather than a cash-based release system.Train judicial officers on the risk principle and the methodology behind the risk assessment tool.Educate judges about the continuum of sentencing options.Educate judges about available community restitution (service) programs and the types of services each offers so that courts may order services that “fit the crime.”Launch a public education campaign to support the adopted recommendations of the task force.6Justice for AllProvide a comprehensive and targeted educational program for all stakeholders (funding authorities, legislators, criminal justice agencies, media, and members of the public) that addresses the shift to a risk-based system rather than a cash-based release system.Request that the Chief Justice issue an administrative order directing the education of all full- and part-time judicial officers about alternatives to financial release conditions. Training and educational components should: Inform judges that cash bonds are not favored. Judges should consider the least onerous terms of release of pretrial detainees that will ensure public safety and the defendant’s return to court for hearings. Train limited jurisdiction court judges to more aggressively allow payment of fines through community service, as permitted by A.R.S. § 13-810.Provide focused judicial education on A.R.S. § 11-584(D) and Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure 6.7(D) about how to determine the amount and method of payment, specifically taking into account the financial resources and the nature of the burden that the payment will impose on the defendant and making specific findings on the record about the defendant’s ability to pay.Update bench books and other judicial aides to be consistent with court-adopted recommendations.INNOVATIONS ALREADY UNDER WAYArizona courts have a history of innovation. As pretrial release issues have arisen, local courts have already begun experimenting with initiatives that support fair justice to all in Arizona. Following are a few projects that highlight promising practices that can be considered for expansion to other jurisdictions.2Compliance Assistance ProgramThe Phoenix Municipal Court has recently implemented a Compliance Assistance Program (CAP) that notifies defendants who have had their driver’s licenses suspended that they can come in to court, arrange a new and affordable time2 See Appendix B for detailed project descriptions of Innovations Already Under Way.7Justice for Allpayment program, and make a down payment on their outstanding fine. More than 5,000 people have taken advantage of the program in the first six months.Interactive Voice Response SystemThe Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts and the Glendale and Mesa Municipal courts have each implemented an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to notify defendants of upcoming court dates, missed payments, or the issuance of warrants. Each jurisdiction has experienced a reduction in the number of people failing to appear—up to 24 percent.3Limited Jurisdiction Mental Competency Proceedings PilotA pilot project coordinated through the Superior Court in Maricopa County authorized Mesa and Glendale municipal courts to conduct Rule 11 mental health competency proceedings originating in their courts on behalf of the Superior Court in Maricopa County. The program has reduced the time to process these matters from six months to 60 days.Justice Court Video Appearance CenterThe Maricopa County Justice Court Video Appearance Center represents the first phase of an initiative to significantly reduce the amount of time defendants are held in custody on misdemeanor charges pending appearance in the justice courts.Pima County – MacArthur Safety & Justice ChallengeIn May 2015, Pima County was selected as one of 11 jurisdictions awarded $150,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for Phase I of an initiative to reduce over-incarceration by changing how America thinks about and uses jails. The initiative is a competition to help jurisdictions create fairer, more effective local justice systems through bold innovation. Pima County was later awarded an additional $1.5 million to move forward with Phase 2, which involves creating an implementation plan for broad system change.

I'll try to help, but I'm Brazilian and every country have their own rules and laws with minors. Here in Brazil you would need for sure the permission signed of both of your parents and stamped by a notary's office.I searched about Canadian laws and here what I found:First, I learn that there it depends on with provincial you are. Some are 18, others 19 still consider a minor. In this website has the age of all 19 provinces:https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/refugee-protection/canada/processing-provincial-definitions-minor.htmlThe second part of you question who can consent the permission:If a minor child is travelling aloneTravel documentsInformation on passports, visas, international driving permits and a variety of other documents you will need when you travel outside the country.More info: Travel abroad - Travel.gc.caTravel documentsCrossing international borders can be complicated and sometimes requires many different kinds of documents. Being prepared is the key to easing your way through this process, so make sure you know what documents you need, where to get them, and which ones will make your crossing quick and easy.More info: Travel Documents - Travel.gc.caRecommended consent letter for children travelling abroadWe strongly recommend that Canadian children carry a consent letter if they are travelling abroad alone, with only one parent/guardian, with friends or relatives or with a group. For the purposes of this consent letter, a Canadian child is defined as anyone who is under the age of majority (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory of residence).A consent letter is not a legal requirement in Canada, but it can simplify travel for Canadian children, as it may be requested by immigration authorities when entering or leaving a foreign country or by Canadian officials when re-entering Canada. The letter demonstrates that Canadian children have permission to travel abroad from parents or guardians who are not accompanying them.We recommend that you talk to a lawyer about the legal issues that apply to you and your children’s unique situation, particularly if your parenting arrangement has special terms governing international travel. Carrying a consent letter does not guarantee that children will be allowed to enter or leave a country, as every country has its own entry and exit requirements.For additional information about entry and exit requirements for Canadian children travelling alone, with only one parent or with another accompanying person, see our Travel Advice and Advisories or contact the nearest embassy or consulate of the destination country.A photo of the consent letter:The signing of a consent letter may be witnessed by anyone who has attained the age of majority (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory of residence). However, we strongly recommend that you have the letter witnessed by a notary public, so that border officials will be less likely to question its authenticity.We also recommend that you contact the airline, bus, train or other transport company you will be using to check its policies and regulations for child travellers.Website/Recommended consent letter for children travelling abroad - Travel.gc.caRecommended consent letter for children travelling abroad – FAQThe following Questions and Answers supplement the Recommended consent letter for children travelling abroad.For more information about travelling with children, consult the Children and travel page, the publication Travelling With Children, or seek advice from a lawyer. If you need help finding legal services in your province or territory, contact a lawyer referral service.For additional information about entry and exit requirements for Canadian children travelling alone, with only one parent or with another accompanying person, see our country-specific travel advice and advisories or contact the nearest embassy or consulate of the destination country.Note that all references to parents on this page apply also to legal guardians.Note that Global Affairs Canada cannot provide you with advice about the Consent Letter for Children Travelling Abroad beyond what is offered on this website.Most frequent questionsGeneral questionsLegal and custody questionsDocumentation questionsOther questionsMost frequent questionsWhat is the purpose of a consent letter?A consent letter demonstrates that children who travel alone, with only one parent/guardian, friends, relatives or a group (e.g. sports, school, musical, religious) have permission to travel abroad from every parent (or guardian) who is not accompanying them on the trip.Is a consent letter mandatory?There is no Canadian legal requirement for children to carry a consent letter. However, a consent letter may be requested by immigration authorities when entering or leaving a foreign country, airline agents or Canadian officials when re-entering Canada. Failure to produce a letter upon request may result in delays or refusal to enter or exit a country.If the accompanying parent has full/sole custody of the child, is it still advisable to obtain a consent letter signed by a non-accompanying parent who only has access rights?We recommend that even a parent who has full/sole custody obtain a consent letter from another parent who has access rights (also called visitation rights).What information should a consent letter contain?There are no official guidelines for the content and format of a consent letter. For your convenience, we offer a sample consent letter on our website, which may be modified to fit your specific situation. You may also use our interactive form, which allows you to leave out information that is not available or applicable. Nevertheless, we recommend including as much detail as possible.Who should sign the consent letter?The consent letter should be signed by parents who are not accompanying the child on a trip, including:One or both parents who are married or in a common-law relationship and live together with the child. Both parents usually have custody rights over the child. In some provinces or territories, other terms (e.g. guardianship rights or parental authority) may be used.One or both parents who are separated, divorced or do not live together. In some situations, parents have “joint custody” or “joint guardianship” of a child, meaning that they make important decisions about the child together. In other situations, one parent has “sole custody” and is responsible for making important decisions for the child, while the other parent has “access rights.” We recommend that the letter be signed by all parents who are not travelling with the child, whether they have custody or access rights.One or more individuals (other than parents) or an organization with guardianship rights and responsibility for the care of the child.In Quebec, one or both parents with parental authority over the child. Whether the parents are married, in a civil or de facto union, separated or divorced, they have rights and duties relating to the child, unless a court order states otherwise.Court orders or agreements sometimes specify who is or is not required to sign a consent letter for children travelling abroad. If in doubt about who should sign the letter, consult with a lawyer.Up to what age should Canadian children carry a consent letter when travelling abroad?We recommend that anyone who is under the age of majority (under 18 or 19, depending on the province or territory of residence) carry a consent letter.Who can witness the signing of a consent letter?The signing of the letter may be witnessed by anyone who has attained the age of majority (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory of residence). However, we strongly recommend having the letter witnessed by a notary public, as border officials will be less likely to question the authenticity of the letter.Outside of Canada, the signing of a consent letter may be witnessed by anyone who has attained the age of majority, including a consular officer at any Canadian government office abroad (fees apply).Is it mandatory to have the consent letter witnessed by a notary?There is no Canadian requirement to have the consent letter witnessed by a notary public. However we strongly recommend doing so, as border officials will be less likely to question the authenticity of the letter.If the parents are together (either married or in a common-law relationship), but only one parent travels with the child, is a consent letter still recommended?If the child is not accompanied by both parents, we recommend carrying a consent letter signed by the non-accompanying parent, regardless of the parents’ marital status (single, married, common-law, separated, divorced or never married).General questionsIs a consent letter still recommended if a child will be accompanied by both parents for part of a trip, but alone or with only one parent for another part of the trip?We recommend that a child who is travelling with only one parent for even a small portion of a trip (e.g. when returning to Canada with only one parent) carry a consent letter signed by the non-accompanying parent.For example, if a child travels to the United States with both parents, but then the mother stays in the United States while the father brings the child back to Canada, the mother may sign a consent letter stating that the child has permission to travel back to Canada with the father.If neither parent is accompanying the child, should they each sign separate consent letters, or can they provide a single letter with both of their signatures?Either separate letters or a single letter may be acceptable. However, if both parents choose to sign separate consent letters, we strongly recommend that both letters be witnessed by a notary public.If children from the same family travel together without one or both parents, should they each carry separate letters or one letter listing all of the children?Either separate letters or a single letter may be acceptable. However, if the children will not be together for the entire trip (e.g. when returning to Canada), we recommend that they carry separate letters.We also strongly recommend that the letters be witnessed by a notary public.If a child is travelling with several adults, none of whom are the child’s parents (e.g. relatives, group leaders, parents of a friend), should they all be identified as accompanying persons on the consent letter?It is not necessary for the letter to identify all adults as accompanying persons. Instead, we recommend that the letter identify one accompanying person, such as a grandparent or group leader, subject to that individual’s consent.Can a parent fax or email a scanned copy of the letter to the accompanying person?Although there is no Canadian legal requirement for children to carry a consent letter, we recommend bringing the original letter, as border officials will be less likely to question its authenticity.Is a consent letter recommended even for a day trip?A consent letter is recommended for all cross-border travel, even for a day trip, if the child will be travelling alone, with only one parent, with friends or relatives or with a youth group. The sample consent letteror interactive form can be used to create a suitable letter.If one parent is deceased, what document should a child carry when travelling abroad?A child accompanied by a surviving parent who has full custody may carry a copy of the death certificate of the deceased parent. A child travelling without the surviving parent may carry a consent letter signed by that parent and a copy of the death certificate of the deceased parent.If a Canadian child who holds another citizenship travels to the other country of citizenship without one or both parents, will the consent letter offered on this website be accepted by that country’s immigration authorities?The consent letter offered on this website may or may not be considered sufficient by a country’s immigration authorities, as some countries impose their own entry/exit requirements on minor citizens.For example, a child with Costa Rican-Canadian citizenship requires a legally certified consent letter, translated into Spanish and signed by one or both parents, plus a special permit issued by Costa Rican authorities, in order to depart from Costa Rica.Be aware that a foreign country may automatically deem a child born in Canada to be one of its citizens if one or both parents are citizens of that country. As a “deemed citizen,” the child may be subject to the same entry/exit requirements as other citizens of that country.We strongly recommend that parents consult with an embassy or consulate of any country where their child may be a “deemed citizen” and enquire about travel documentation and other entry/exit requirements before travelling to that country with their child.You may find additional information under “Entry/Exit Requirements” in the Travel advice and advisories for your destination country, our Dual citizenship page and our booklet Dual Citizenship: What You Need to Know.Legal and custody questionsWhat can be done if a parent refuses to sign the consent letter?We recommend trying to find out the reason for the refusal. It may be possible to clear up a misunderstanding or address the other parent’s concerns.Alternatively, family justice services (e.g. mediation) may help. For a list of services available in each province and territory, see the Department of Justice’s Inventory of Government-based Family Justice Services.You may also wish to consult with a family lawyer. Note that Global Affairs Canada cannot provide legal advice.What can be done if there is a risk that the accompanying parent will not bring the child back to Canada?We recommend consulting with a lawyer without delay and proceeding with caution before signing a consent letter. For more information, see our publication International Child Abduction: A guidebook for left-behind parents or consult our Child abduction and custody issues page.Is a consent letter still recommended from a parent who has been denied access rights?A consent letter is not necessary from a parent who has been denied access rights by a court order. We recommend that the accompanying parent who has full/sole custody of the child carry a copy of the court order when travelling abroad.If a court order states that one parent can travel abroad with the child without the consent of the other parent, what documentation is required?We recommend carrying a copy of the court order stating that the other parent’s consent is not needed to travel abroad with the child. Any questions about the wording of the court order should be directed to a family lawyer.Is it possible to write a consent letter without specific travel dates so that it may be used for multiple trips (e.g. if the child travels frequently or the non-accompanying parent is not readily available to sign)?We recommend carrying a letter with specific travel dates (as in the sample consent letter on our website). Doing so may help minimize complications when entering or exiting another country.Consult with a lawyer for information on obtaining a document stating that the child has permission to travel abroad on nonspecific dates.If the accompanying person is not the child’s biological parent (e.g. an adoptive or foster parent) but has custody or guardianship rights, is specific documentation needed for the child to travel abroad?We recommend carrying a copy of a court order stating that the accompanying person is the child’s lawful custodian or guardian. If the child is in temporary care, we recommend carrying a consent letter signed by the appropriate child welfare agency representative granting consent for the child to travel with the accompanying person. Consult with a lawyer or the child welfare agency if in doubt about documentation requirements.Documentation questionsIf the parents are separated or divorced, does the child or accompanying parent need to carry documentation (e.g. a court order or separation agreement) other than a consent letter signed by the non-accompanying parent?In addition to carrying a consent letter, we recommend checking with an embassy or consulate of the destination country in case other documents are required.If the other parent is not in the picture and obtaining a consent letter is impossible, what other documents can be carried?If there is a court order stating that the whereabouts of the other parent are unknown and granting the accompanying parent full/sole custody, we recommend carrying a copy of that document.If a court order has not been issued, we recommend consulting with a lawyer to consider taking legal action.If the other parent was granted access rights by a previous court order, but has not exercised those rights in a long time and is now unreachable, we recommend consulting with a lawyer to consider obtaining an up-to-date court order.In either case, we recommend carrying a copy of the court order.If in doubt, be sure to consult with a lawyer, as each situation is unique.What documents should a child carry when travelling abroad, apart from a Canadian passport and consent letter (if applicable)?Since parents are not identified on a child’s passport, we recommend that the child carry a copy of the long-form (or parental information) birth certificate, which clearly indicates the parents’ names. The long-form birth certificate is not a mandatory travel document, but it may help to establish the relationship between the child and the accompanying parent and/or the parent signing the consent letter.For more information on the long-form birth certificate, contact the government of the province or territory where the child was born.Check with the destination country’s embassy or consulate in Canada regarding additional documentation that may be required, including divorce papers, custody court orders or a death certificate (if one parent is deceased).If the non-accompanying parent is not identified on the child’s long-form birth certificate and does not have access or custody rights, is there any reason for that parent to sign a consent letter?A consent letter is not needed in this case. However, we recommend carrying a copy of the child’s long-form (or parental information) birth certificate when travelling abroad with the custodial parent.If the child travels alone, we recommend carrying a copy of the long-form birth certificate as well as a consent letter signed by the custodial parent.If the child is a naturalized Canadian or permanent resident and immigrated to Canada with only one parent, does the parent who lives abroad need to sign a consent letter?We recommend carrying a consent letter signed by the parent who lives abroad. The signing of the consent letter may be witnessed by anyone who has attained the age of majority (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory of residence), including a consular officer at any Canadian government office abroad (fees apply).If it is impossible to obtain a consent letter from the parent who lives abroad, we recommend carrying a copy of a court order granting full custody to the parent in Canada and stating that the other parent has no rights over the child.If a court order has not been issued, we recommend consulting with a lawyer, as each situation is unique.Other questionsIs there any reason to be concerned if the information requested in the sample consent letter or interactive form is not available or applicable (e.g. passport number, destination address)?The content and format of the child consent letter may be modified to meet your needs. The sample consent letter and interactive form on our website allow you to include information that fits your specific situation or to leave out information that is not available or applicable. However, we recommend including as much detail as possible.We have revised our consent letter resources to serve you better.We welcome your feedback on the new versions at [email protected]. Please note that this address is to receive your comments and suggestions only.Recommended consent letter for children travelling abroad – FAQ - Travel.gc.caRead carefully and visit the website for precisely information.Hope I could help!Make a safe trip.

This question comes up fairly often, and I’m sure I’ve answered a version of it before here on Quora, but let’s have another bash at it. Too many answers to questions like this are made without enough historical depth, so miss the key interesting facts about this part of South Asian history.Origins: Imperial PatternsSouth Asia has probably always been a multi-lingual society. (In this answer, when I say ‘South Asia’, I’m going to be focusing on the northern part of the Subcontinent — basically from Pakistan, through the northern 2/3 of India, and over through Bangladesh; bear in mind that while much of it applies to Southern India as well, levels of applicability differ and I’m painting in broad strokes.) This has been the case since at least the Gupta Period (roughly the 3rd-5th centuries AD), when the pattern first became established of a broad and varied dialect continuum over which an elite court language with a specific cultural identity was superimposed (in that period, Classical Sanskrit, asserting the identity of modern Hinduism over Buddhism and other identities that had developed there).By the Mughal period, this pattern had developed into a distinctive and characteristic three-tier system. At the basic level, everybody spoke their local dialect, whatever that may happen to have been (Sindhi, Panjabi, Braj, Gujarati, Assamese, Bengali, Sylheti, etc). If you were wealthy and educated enough to participate in something broader than the local economy, you learned the national dialect, which at this period increasingly became based on Khari Boli — more on this in a minute. If you were wealthy and educated enough to participate in the elite imperial economy, you spoke the imperial court language, which was Persian (Farsi).So let’s talk about that middle tier. Khari Boli is, within the Modern Indo-Aryan dialect continuum, the local dialect of the region around Delhi, stretching up towards Meerut. As you know, the Emperor Shahjahan moved the imperial capital to Delhi (the part of Old Delhi still called ‘Shahjahanabad’ — of course Delhi had been on-and-off as the capital for several centuries before this, please don’t come away thinking that the linguistic development I am describing only just happened in Shahjahan’s time), and just outside the Red Fort, around the Jama Masjid, a thriving market grew up to serve the imperial army, courtiers, and the array of traders, administrators, intellectuals, artisans and others who were attracted to the court. The Imperial Persian word for ‘army, camp, garrison’ was urdu, a word borrowed from Chagatai Turkic (the ancestor of modern Uzbek, and the native language of Babur and the early Mughal courtiers from Ferghana), and related to the source of the English word ‘horde’. This market still exists of course; while most people call it ‘Chandni Chowk’ (after the name of the ‘Moonlight Street’ along which it stretches, that originally had a canal running through the middle to reflect the silvery light at nighttime), it is often still called the ‘Urdu Bazaar’ which originally meant the ‘Army Market’.Source: https://www.corp.at/archive/CORP2012_25.pdfA view down to the Urdu Bazaar in 2017, taken by me from the Jama Masjid. If you look towards the ground, you can get a hint of the labyrinthine alleyways that make up the Bazaar; heading towards the left from this picture, it becomes an actual ‘Urdu’ bazaar, with many shops selling Urdu texts. And still nobody I could find with a volume of Amir Khusrau!Naturally, the educated version of Khari Boli — the local dialect — became the lingua franca of the market, in the process absorbing a lot of words not only from Persian (and Persianised Arabic), but also from other North Indian languages from that dialect continuum, particularly Panjabi and Braj (Khari Boli can be seen as a transitional dialect between Panjabi and Braj in many ways), given the importance of other imperial cities like Lahore and Agra. This language became known as Zaban-e-Urdu-e-Mu’allah, literally ‘the Speech of the Exalted Camps’, which shortens satisfyingly to give it a name: Zaban-e-Urdu, ‘the Urdu language’. Importantly, the camp followed the court, which moved with the Emperor. This worked to spread this form of Khari Boli around the whole empire, and it soon became the language by which anybody in most of South Asia could interact with other people from outside their local area. Importantly, most of the empire’s area was within the Modern Indo-Aryan dialect continuum — this meant it was relatively easy for people to learn this type of Khari Boli and use it in a sort of diglossia with their own local language. It was far simpler than learning Persian, which — though related — is more distant, and had fairly limited exposure outside of the court itself.(Of course, learning Persian opened up other economic opportunities. Famously, the Kayastha caste in this era specialised in learning Persian, which is what allowed them access to the lucrative administrative roles at court and across the Empire. This was a natural turn for them; in Gupta days they had learned Sanskrit, which — despite giving them access to the same sort of court and ‘civil service’ positions — put them in conflict with the Brahmins, who jealously guarded access to Sanskrit; the demarcation came between the Brahmins preserving the oral memorisation tradition and the Kayasthas using writing to record things, which made sense for administrators and civil servants, but was scorned by the Brahmins as being far too ‘worldly’. The switch to Persian removed this conflict of course; later Kayasthas opportunistically learned English when that took over, as we shall see. Many famous Urdu writers were Kayasthas, including Munshi Premchand and Harivansh Rai Bachchan, father of the famous actor Amitabh; I am also descended from a Kayastha family, as you might tell from my name. Many Kayasthas also became Muslim in this period, over time assimilating into the Muslim community and leaving this caste identity behind.)New Rulers, Old PatternsThen along came the British. At first, the British officers assumed that, as Persian was the court language, it was the language that would be most useful for them to learn and teach new recruits. However, it soon became clear that knowledge of Persian across South Asia was generally very limited, and it was Urdu / Khari Boli that functioned as the main lingua franca outside imperial circles. Accordingly, they switched to focusing on teaching their officers that instead.So as British power grew, it was quite easy to preserve the three-tier system, just with English replacing Persian as the top tier. English being even further removed from the Modern Indo-Aryan dialect continuum than Persian (albeit still distantly related), it was still far easier for most of the people to use Khari Boli as their lingua franca. The British — who generally tried hard to rule this part of the Empire at this time in a way that was in keeping with ‘local custom’, whatever they may have understood that to be — encouraged that situation and patronised Khari Boli across the land, with many of the great British-era scholars of not just this language but of Indo-Aryan in general coming out of Fort William College in Calcutta as much as from places like the Oriental Institutes of Oxford and Cambridge.The Rajabai Tower, now within the Fort campus of the University of Mumbai in 2016 — sorry for the quality, this was an old iPhone shot. I’ve not been to Fort William in Calcutta, so this is standing in as my image for British India…So at this juncture, we need to talk about names and scripts. The first thing to state is that, before around 1800, these were not important considerations. Khari Boli could be more Persianised or less; it could be written in Persian-style Nastaliq script (which I still think is possibly the most beautiful form of writing I have seen, rivalled only in Chinese and Japanese paintings), or it could be written in any of the myriad Indian scripts ultimately derived from Brahmi; it had several names: Urdu, Rekhta (meaning ‘scattered’, from the way that Persian words were ‘scattered’ through it), Hindavi, Hindustani, and more. It is important to note a little though about its literary use. In particular, while this type of Khari Boli was widely spoken as a lingua franca across South Asia, it was definitely not widely used for literature. There were a number of other standards from the dialect continuum that were used for literature, including Braj, Avadhi, Rajasthani, Bengali, and others, and indeed these dialects were patronised by the Mughal rulers (with many Braj and Avadhi masterpieces, of both Islamic and Hindu character, being produced under the patronage of Akbar and his successors). The use of Khari Boli to produce literature that specifically followed Persian literary models like ghazal poetry and the like began in Hyderabad, and this form of the language (under the name ‘Rekhta’) tended to be much more heavily Persianised than the general form of Khari Boli used as the lingua franca. Indeed, you could say that, while the general form of Khari Boli was in a sort of diglossia with local languages, the Rekhta / Urdu form used to produce Persian-style poetry was in a sort of diglossia with Persian, given its courtly audience.This is the situation that the British inherited; for them, however, in cultivating a lingua franca, the scripts became a problem. They needed a single, standardised script — and from the perspective of the British, Nastaliq had a major drawback: it does not play nicely with movable type for printing. Printing in Nastaliq required the comparatively laborious and expensive technique of lithography — a problem that has really only been solved in recent years with computational fonts (this is why, for instance, Iran and the Arabic-speaking world use much more plain letters based on a simplified and non-calligraphic version of Naskh for daily use, with more calligraphic forms including Nastaliq being very much limited).Accordingly, the British began to push for Khari Boli to be standardised into two forms: Urdu written in Nastaliq, and the form that became known as Hindi in Devanagari letters (which are comparatively quite easy to print). They also began to patronise the use of these forms of the language for literature that followed European models: newspapers, short stories, novels and the like. While this split was originally just one of convenience (people like Premchand used both without much fuss), from the mid-nineteenth century in a rising crescendo to Independence the two varieties took on increasingly ethno-political identities, with Urdu texts in Nastaliq increasingly having a specifically Islamic identity and with it an ever-wider invitation to Persian and Persianised Arabic vocabulary, while Hindi became increasingly seen as ‘Hindu’ (or at least ‘non-Muslim’) and worked harder and harder to replace Persian vocabulary with Sanskrit instead. (It is amazing how easy it is to read texts from around 1800 in either Urdu or Hindi, while texts from, say, 1950 are next to impossible to understand without a good Persian and Sanskrit dictionary to hand.)Language and Identity from Independence to TodayThis is where things stand on the eve of Independence. Across most of South Asia, the three-tier system remains strong. Everybody speaks their local dialect, whatever that may be. Khari Boli is more widely spoken than ever as the middle tier, but rising ethnic nationalism sees it dividing increasingly into Urdu and Hindi. Meanwhile, the elite tier remains English, although this is a far broader elite than had been the case at the time of Persian’s ascendancy, reflecting the economic and social changes through the British period.It was therefore completely natural that Pakistan would adopt Urdu as its national language. This was not simply something imposed on the people by ‘Muhajir’ migrants from Delhi and Lucknow, it was already the lingua franca of most of the people of Pakistan who were able to partake in an economy beyond their local markets. Further, it was both the emblem and the vehicle of the Quaid’s ‘Two-Nation’ theory and the pan-Indo-Islamic ethno-nationalism whose fruit was the creation of Pakistan. The Quaid’s triumph was the triumph of Urdu.But the story doesn’t end there. The tide of ethno-nationalism that had been rising since the Khilafat movement continued after Independence, in both India and Pakistan. Crucially, across South Asia, language continued to be a totem for these nationalist movements as they expressed themselves.In India, the attempts to continue the three-tier system using Hindi as the national language faced strong resistance from regions outside the economic sphere of Delhi and Bombay (which, as one of the pre-eminent multi-ethnic cities of British India, had long used Hindi as its lingua franca between the Marathi, Gujarati, Parsi, Sindhi, and other communities who called it home). Hindi became seen as a way of suppressing the regions, and of either replacing other local identities (as has happened in the north-central region, now often called the ‘Hindi Heartland’ states, from Rajasthan to Bihar and Himachal Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh: in all of these areas, the local language is now seen as ‘just a dialect’ rather than being ‘a proper language’ — terms which are meaningless to linguists like me) or cutting off access to the elite economic positions of the new nation from the regions. This is what has resulted in the seemingly unending series of states along ethno-nationalistic lines, with each new state asserting the power and prestige of its own language. Resistance to Hindi is particularly strong in the areas where the possibility of a diglossia with the local language is hindered by belonging to the Dravidian dialect continuum rather than the Indo-Aryan one. Tamil, and many of the other Dravidian languages, have their own long histories, strong identities, and literary canons, and had never really fully assimilated into the three-tier system anyway. The result is that Hindi has not quite been able to ‘corner the market’ for becoming a truly national language, and instead India is increasingly either collapsing that middle tier, leaving just the two tiers of the local language and English, or collapsing the bottom tier, particularly in cities like Jaipur, Agra, or Lucknow, leaving just it and English (indeed, I am a good example of this, with my family being exclusive Hindi-speakers despite having lived in Jaipur for centuries; I have always lived in the UK or Canada, but when I go to Jaipur and ask family or others about the Rajasthani language, people look at me funny and wonder why I care about ‘village-speak’ which nobody in the city understands).In the history of Pakistan, the same South Asian tide of language-centred ethno-nationalism was generally more limited, to just the one very conspicuous split: the rift between East and West Pakistan. There is a direct parallel between the objections of, say, Tamil or Marathi speakers to Hindi on the one hand, and Bengali speakers to Urdu on the other: it is not that close linguistically, it ignores a rich and longstanding cultural and literary tradition, and it became a symbol of political and economic disenfranchisement. This culminated in the horrors and tragedies of war, and the emergence of Bangladesh as an independent nation.The result of all of this is that, funnily enough, Pakistan today remains one of the few places in South Asia where the old imperial three-tier language system remains strong: everybody speaks their local language; those who participate in the national economy add Urdu; and those who participate in the global economy add English — just as it has been for the last several centuries across this part of the world. Today, Urdu has not only the advantage of being not that far from most of the local languages (with apologies to the Pathan and Baluchi people — but then, it is not entirely a coincidence that these are the provinces where local ethno-nationalism has the loudest voice) while not threatening any of them in the way that Hindi does in India, but also the illustrious heritage of being the vehicle of a long tradition of South Asian Islamic culture (from Mir to Iqbal and into the modern era), and the emblem of both of the defining struggles that have crafted the modern Pakistani nation.As a linguist and a lover of literature, this situation is one that I think is ideal. Urdu is a beautiful and poetic language, whether from the pen of Allama Iqbal, or the voices of everyone from the Sabris and Nusrat Sahib to Nazia Hassan and Atif Aslam. I love that all of the creative energies of Pakistan are behind ensuring that it thrives, despite it largely retreating in India to Bollywood. At the same time, it not being a threat to any of the local languages of the nation ensures that they continue to survive as well: linguists hate to see any speech variety disappear. Furthermore, the fact that at its core it is just the same Khari Boli as Hindi is ensures that the cultural connection between Pakistan and India will strengthen as their relationship matures into one of mutual respect, trade, friendship, and brotherhood (as it already does amongst us of South Asian heritage in the diaspora). In the meantime and beside all of this, Pakistan’s continued patronage of English keeps its economic and political connections to the wider world. So long as it continues to serve the interests of the Pakistani people, long may this system thrive!