'BRING NOAH HOME,' CALGARY MOM'S SUPPORTERS PLEAD TO U.S.

On her second Mother's Day without her son, Lisa Kirkman and a
handful of supporters took to the streets with placards to demand the
Canadian and U.S. governments do more to see Noah returned to his
family and country of birth.

Chanting "bring Noah home," about two dozen people walked from the
downtown Harry Hays federal building and over to Rocky Mountain Plaza
where the American consulate is located.

Addressing the crowd on a megaphone, Kirkman explained how the now
12-year-old was first taken into the care of Oregon state child
welfare authorities two years ago while the boy was staying for the
summer with his American-born stepfather. Noah, diagnosed as special
needs because of severe ADHD, has been held in their custody ever
since, despite there being no evidence the boy was abused or
neglected by his family and full investigations of Kirkman and her family.

"It was explained to me it was a clerical error and would be cleared
up in a couple of days," said an emotional Kirkman, flanked by her own mother.

"A couple of days became a couple of months which became a couple of
years which brings us to today ... and I am suffering another
Mother's Day without my first-born child and he's suffering yet
another Mother's Day in another foster home without a single family
member telling him how much he means to them."

A Canadian lawyer is working on Kirkman's case, but the Calgary
mother called for diplomatic action.

Kirkman pleaded for Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- who has children
around the same age -- to step in and demand the return of a child
she says was "abducted" by a foreign government.

"Noah is a Canadian citizen and an innocent child. How can it be that
a foreign government ... can just take him, and keep him and not be
met with immediate diplomatic action?" Kirkman told the crowd.

She told Harper to imagine what it would be like if he didn't have
his own children at home, to help them make breakfast for their
mother on Mother's Day.

"How would you feel if you sent your children down to the States for
summer camp or school or to stay with family friends and you never
saw them again? Noah is every Canadian child."

Indeed, Karen Godel said Noah's plight should be of concern to other
Canadian families who travel south of the border.

"We're a stepfamily, so we're concerned about Noah and also about
stepfamilies who go to the States," said Godel, who doesn't
personally know Kirkman but came to the rally with her children and
their stepfather in support of her case.

"It's really important to make sure that families get to be together.
More important than a bouquet of flowers."

Kirkman also received the support of Michael Kapoustin, who spent 12
years in a Bulgarian prison before the Canadian government pushed for
his release in 2008.

"This is a ridiculous case that makes no sense," said Kapoustin, who
has launched the National Council for the Protection of Canadians
abroad. "The (Canadian government) exerted significant effort to help
me and several other Canadians stuns me that they can't raise the
same kind of diplomatic effort to get this young man returned to his mother.

"It's inexcusable that our government and Foreign Affairs aren't more
aggressively involved."

A court hearing is scheduled for the end of the month in Oregon that
could finally result in Noah's return to Canada.