Case information

Family law — Custody — Parental authority — Intimate partner violence — Trial judge concluding best interests of the child require termination of father’s parental rights due to risk of future violence and persistence of mother’s psychological symptoms — Court of Appeal allowing appeal, as trial judge failed to consider favourable elements of father’s conduct and focused on the potential impact of contact on the mother without adequately assessing the best interests of the child and alternative options to termination — Whether the presence of proven and objectively severe family violence creates a presumption of deprivation of parental authority, including the termination of access to the child — Whether protection of the primary caregiver’s psychological integrity warrants termination of access between the abuser and the child, and if so, what proof is required?

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

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At the end of a relationship marked by intimate partner violence of a father toward a mother, the parents agreed that the mother would have custody of the child and the father would have supervised access rights. The mother subsequently requested that the father’s parental authority be terminated due to his reprehensible behaviour during their time together, which left her with post-traumatic stress syndrome and permanent psychological sequelae.

The trial judge held that it was in the best interests of the child to terminate the father’s parental rights. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and sent the case back to the Superior Court to reassess the father’s request for a modification of parental time, for consideration of solutions deemed less extreme than complete termination of parental authority, in order to reconcile the best interests of the child and the protection of the mother.