Without more details, it's hard to decipher what really happened.
This article has more details on the situation:
http://www.dose.ca/news/story.html?id=6aaf855a-47e3-4e3f-8709-5b53dcfffff0
The father doesn't want the daughter back, obviously since he now
has no authority over her.
The mother used the daughter to get back at the father. It says the
daughter is with the mother, but father has custody. The mother
sided with the daughter, saying missing the trip was too harsh a
punishment.
Best guess is that the courts allowed her to have a lawyer because she
is 12, and in the midst of a 10 year custody battle. That's probably
the only reason it even saw a court. At 12 the child is allowed some
input into where they live.
At that point the judge has to make a decision.
ers