Wait could be over for Olympian and daughter

Alison Herst is trying to remain realistic, but it looks as if she and her adopted Haitian daughter Zoe may be back home in North Bay Nov. 1

Herst and her father Paul went down to Haiti Saturday to try to finalize Zoe’s adoption, the process of which has been going on for a year.

All that remains is for Zoe to be issued a Haitian passport, and the matter is now with the Haitian Interior Ministry, Herst’s boyfriend Stacy Jackson told baytoday.ca Thursday.

The Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince has contacted the Haitian Interior Minister through an independent lawyer, Jackson said from Corpus Christi, Tx., where he’s an American Hockey League linesman.

“They said that the passport should take four to five business days, so she should have it by next Wednesday.

Not getting hopes up
If that happens then the pair will be back in Canada Nov. 1, Jackson said.

“So now it's just a waiting game. But the good news is that everybody is now on the same page.”

Herst is happy, Jackson said, “but she is not getting her hopes up until she has the passport in her hands.”

The Canadian embassy told Herst they would issue a travel visa for Zoe as soon as the passport comes through.

Parental leave taken
Unable to have children, Herst, 32, set her sights on becoming a mother through international adoption and started the process in April of 2001.

The Grade 6 teacher at Vincent Massey Public School took a parental leave to travel to Haiti.

She was a member of the Canadian Olympic kayaking team and participated in the ’92 Barcelona Olympics, and the ’96 games in Atlanta.