Canadian Emancipation Situation

[nightwynd]

I'm not 100% sure this is the right forum to be posting this question in - so I apologise in advance if I am here in error.

I have a rather unique situation going on in my house. A couple of months ago we took in my wife's 15 year old (now 16) sister - her parents had kicked her out of the house to go live on the street. To be brief, she (and my wife, and most of her siblings) had grown up under great emotional stress from their parents, which brought most of the children to the breaking point and beond. A couple weeks after we brought her in, a discussion between my wife and her mom revealed the fact that her mom would allow the younger sister home as long as she followed the rules. The list of "rules" is far too long to even contemplate, and the younger sister absolutly refuses to even look at or speak to her parents again. She has voiced suicidal urges many times, and in short is an emotional train wreck. Her mom just accuses her of acting stupid.

So a couple of hours ago, the younger sister came to me and said that a friend in Ontario (we currently live in Manitoba, but originally came from Ontario a couple years ago) was willing to give her a room to stay in, and a job to work, close to school and a schedule that would allow it all. She's happy as can be to have the prospect of moving away from her parents, and from my side, i think it'd be best for her too.

In doing some research, I find that the legal age to move out in Manitoba is 18...but 16 in Ontario. What I worry about is legal ramifications and further emotional damage to the young sister if she were to leave for Ontario, only to be hauled back to her parents by police. Such an event would, I believe, send her completely over the edge and I fear for her sanity enough as it is.

I write here in a desparate plea for assistance. The sister's time to move to Ontario is in about 2 weeks...honestly I'd like to see her go - her parents are about the worst people in the world for her right now. Is there any way that the move can be made legally, since the sister absolutly refuses to live at home? If forced, she would either resort to suicide, or running away anyway. Of this I am certain.

Thanks in advance,

Nightwynd.

[LawResearcherMissy]

This forum deals primarily with US law.

You'll want to direct your query to a site that specializes in Canadian law.