May 27, 2024 – Tender Years Doctrine

“There is no “tender years doctrine” precluding very young children being parented by their fathers: Young v. Young [cite].  Yet, many of the mother’s claims suggest that the father is inherently unable to parent a young child particularly as the child is being breastfed.

As set out in Ferreira v Ferreira, 2015 ONSC 3602:

          1. The right of a child to visit with a non-custodial parent and to know and maintain or form an attachment to the non-custodial parent is a fundamental right and should only be forfeited in the most extreme and unusual circumstances.  Jafari v. Dadar, [1996] N.B.J. No. 387.  The party who seeks to reduce normal parenting time is required to provide a justification for taking such a position.  The greater the restriction sought, the more important it becomes to justify that restriction.  M.A. v. J.D. 2003 CanLII 52807 (ON CJ), [2003] O.J. No. 2946.
          1. A child’s relationship with a non-custodial parent should be interfered with only in demonstrated circumstances of danger to the children’s physical or mental well-being: see Pastway v. Pastway(1999), 49 R.F.L. (4th) 375(Ont.Ct. (Gen. Div.))”

            Karimi v. Kyron, 2022 ONSC 3252 (CanLII) at 40-41