Equal Parenting Amendment Bill Tabled, would Amend Divorce Act

Maurice Vellacott, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, has succeeded in tabling a private member's bill in the House of Commons to amend the Divorce Act. The Divorce Act is of course the federal law that deals with the divorce of married spouses, custody and access, child support and spousal support.

Mr. Vellacott's proposal, Bill C-560, has certain merits in that:

• orders about the care of children would be dealt with though "parenting orders" rather than orders for custody and access;
• a discussion of counselling, parenting coordination and arbitration would be included in the advice lawyers must give their clients; and
• a parent would be required to give 30 days' notice if moving the child's residence.

However, the bill would also amend s. 16, the part of the Divorce Act that talks about custody and access, to create a presumption that it is in the best interests of children that their time be shared equally between their parents. Here are some of the changes Mr. Vellacott proposes for this section:

(4) Subject to subsection (5), in making a parenting order, the court shall:

(a) apply the presumption that allocating parenting time equally between the spouses is in the best interests of a child of the marriage; and 

(b) apply the presumption that equal parental responsibility is in the best interests of a child of the marriage.

(5) The presumptions referred to in subsection (4) are rebutted if it is established that the best interests of the child would be substantially enhanced by allocating parenting time or parental responsibility other than equally. 

(6) If the presumptions referred to in subsection (4) are rebutted in accordance with subsection (5), the court shall, in making an order under this section, nevertheless give effect to the principle that a child of the marriage should have the maximum practicable contact with each spouse that is compatible with the best interests of the child. 

(15) The primary considerations to be taken into account in determining the best interests of a child of the marriage, to be assessed in aggregate, are

(a) the benefit to the child of having a meaningful relationship and as much contact as is practicable with each of his or her parents; 

(b) the continuity of relationships with relatives; 

(c) the willingness, and the effectiveness of the efforts, of each spouse to facilitate, encourage and support the child’s continuing parent-child relationship with the other spouse; and 

(d) the protection of the child from physical and psychological harm through abuse, neglect or alienation of parental affection.

(17) The court shall apply the following principles in allocating parenting time between the spouses to the extent that they are compatible with the best interests of the child:

(a) weekend, vacation, school holiday, family birthday and religious and cultural holiday time shall be allocated equitably between the spouses, with a view to the spouse with lesser aggregate time having as much of his or her parenting time as possible at times when he or she can be present with the child; 

(b) extra-curricular and educational programs and activities shall be scheduled so that they have an equitable impact on the parenting time allocated to each spouse; and 

(c) if relatives of the child reside in other cities, the travel requirements of a spouse shall be taken into consideration.

(18) If the court makes an order under this section that does not provide for equal parenting time or equal parenting responsibility, the court shall, in the reasons for its decision, explain in detail why such an order was made notwithstanding the principles for parenting orders set out in this section.

I do appreciate where Mr. Vellacott is coming from. There is a common misapprehension that men are discriminated against in family law cases, and all of the men's rights groups I am aware of propose some sort of presumption in favour of shared custody as a facile means of curing the problem.

However, from my perspective as a family law lawyer, such a presumption would not be in the best interests of children. It is certainly true that many separated parents have a shared custody arrangement, or something close to it, and that most of their children are doing very well. There are many other separated parents for whose children a shared custody arrangement would not be beneficial. The situations that leap to mind include:

• where there has been a history of family violence, in the broad sense of the Family Law Act definition;
• where the parents are engaged in high levels of conflict;
• where a parent has taken a hands off approach to raising the children;
• where a parent is dealing with an addiction or another serious mental health concern;
• where the parents have irreconcilable opinions about matters essential to the raising of their children;
• where a parent's work schedule requires long absences;
• where there have been threats to abduct the children; or,
• where a parent has shown no interest in the children after separation.

I'm sure I would come up with a much longer list if I gave further thought to the matter. In any event, my point is that families don't shop from the one-size-fits-all rack. The reality is that each family is different, and the current system, which contains no such presumptions, allows the court to custom-fit the parenting arrangements that are best for each family. One has only to look to the disastrous consequences of Australia's experiment with equal parenting presumptions to realize that such presumptions have no place in family law.

Mr. Vellacott's bill had its first reading on 6 December 2013. Hopefully this bill will suffer the same fate as Mr. Vellacott's efforts in 2010 and 2009, Bill C-422. Mr. Vellacott can be reached by email at maurice.vellacott@parl.gc.ca or by telephone at 613-922-1899 (Ottawa) or 306-975-8886 (Saskatoon). Click here to find your Member of Parliament by postal code.

Update: 24 December 2013

Dear Father's Rights People,

Thank you all very much for your comments. I appreciate, and indeed anticipated, your reaction to this post. However, for a more fulsome explanation of my views, please see my post from 20 December 2013, "Why There is No Place for Presumptions of Shared Parenting in Family Law: A Polemic for the Holiday Season," before posting a comment here.

And to those among you who complain that I have misrepresented Mr. Vellacott's bill, please note that I have provided a link the text of the bill and have quoted directly from the bill above. If you can explain how I have misrepresented the content of the bill, I will gladly post your comment.

I would also like to mention that the bill in question concerns the federal law of Canada, and that the legislation, rules and principles adhered to in Canada may not be similar to those of your jurisdiction.

Update: 24 May 2014

Commenting on this post is now closed. 

Update: 2 June 2014

Bill C-560 was defeated by a 80 to 174 vote at second reading on 28 May 2014.