Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 16/00) - "I can't believe how happy I am," said Roberta Vaneltsi. "Now if he would just get on the plane."

The Yellowknife mother learned Wednesday she will be seeing her 14-year-old son, Roman, on Canadian soil for the first time since an emotional and rushed goodbye to him and her daughter Petra in Whitehorse six years ago.

At the time, the children were being taken south by her estranged husband, Petr Cerny, for the start of a trip to Czech Republic. Cerny and Vaneltsi had agreed to shared custody of the children, taking them for a year at a time.

But after refusing to return the children, Cerny in 1997 successfully applied to a Czech court for sole custody. Since then, Vaneltsi has been fighting a one-woman battle to get the children back.

Cerny agreed earlier this year to allow Roman to visit, but not their 11-year-old daughter. But Vaneltsi was uncertain about the arrangement, thinking it would be unfair to either child to have the other visit alone. Money was also a factor.

The Tetlit Gwich'in Council of Fort McPherson agreed earlier this week to pay for Roman's $2,500 round trip airfare. Vaneltsi is a member of the band and was born and raised in the community.

"In these situations, the way I look at it, money shouldn't be an issue," said Fort McPherson chief Abe Wilson. "It's the outcome that matters, and the outcome is that she gets to see her son."

Wilson said the band council approved a motion to pay for ticket from Prague to Yellowknife on Tuesday. Vaneltsi received a call from Key West Travel the next day saying Roman's ticket had been paid for.

"They really came through for me," said Vaneltsi of the band.

Vaneltsi thought a condition of the visit was that she pay Cerny a lump sum to settle a dispute over child support payments.

"I was under the impression that Petr wanted $2,000 up front," said Vaneltsi. "On Monday it changed. He said it was more important for Roman to visit me than to worry about child support."

Vaneltsi said she came to the conclusion that a visit from one child was better than a visit from none.

"I just had a gut feeling to go ahead with this," said Vaneltsi. "I think it will build trust ... that it will help Petr to see that nobody is going to try to (keep the kids here)."

Vaneltsi visited her children twice since they were taken to the Czech Republic, in 1997 and 1999.