Crown Asks for 2-Year Jail Sentence for Sask. Father Who Withheld Daughter to Prevent COVID Shot

A health-care worker prepares the COVID-19 vaccine. (IMAGINESTOCK/Getty Image)

Crown prosecutors are asking for two years of jail time for a Saskatchewan man who kept his daughter away from her mother to prevent the child from getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Crown prosecutors told the court they wanted to send a message with the sentencing of two years’ jail time, three years of probation, and 200 hours of community service, according to local media reports.

Jackson is representing himself and will appear in the Court of King’s Bench on Aug. 19 to respond to the Crown’s sentencing request.

Michael Gordon Jackson was found guilty in April of violating a custody order arrangement with his ex-wife. He was charged after he did not return his daughter to her mother after a weekend visit in November 2021. The girl, who was 7 years old at the time, primarily lived with her mother.

Police found the pair in Vernon, B.C., in February 2022. At that time, a judge found Jackson guilty of contempt of court, sentencing him to 60 days in jail, according to court records.

Jackson was held in custody until Feb. 13, 2023. One of the conditions of his release was that he was not to have contact with his daughter or his ex-wife and only engage with them through a legal professional.

Jackson told the Court of King’s Bench that he had kept his daughter to prevent his ex-wife from giving the girl the COVID-19 vaccine. He said he believed the vaccine would harm his daughter.

Court documents indicate that the father had tried to discuss the vaccine with the mother, but he was concerned she was not listening to him. The custody order allowed the mother the final say about the vaccine for the child, the documents show.

In an earlier battle between the parents, the mother had a police enforcement clause put in place that allowed police to return the girl back to the mother if Jackson did not return her following his court-ordered visitation time.

This order was still in place when the courts issued another order that the girl be returned to her mother on Nov. 26, 2021. The order was enforced by police.

Jackson appealed that decision but, on Jan. 5, 2022, the courts granted sole custody and decision-making to the child’s mother on an interim basis.