“Justice Pazaratz, who during the short period of time that the family courts have been faced with COVID-19 related custody and access issues has written extensively on the topic, directly advised the Applicant and Respondent in his triage endorsement in this proceeding of the general expectation on parents to honour parenting arrangements during the COVID-19 Health Crisis:
While COVID-19 is a relatively new and unheard of issue in our lives, during the past weeks our court system has devoted a lot of attention to parenting arrangements during these difficult times. The caselaw is overwhelmingly clear in saying that there is a presumption that parenting and timesharing arrangements will continue – to be modified only as may be required to address health or safety issues in relation to the children and their households. A complete suspension of timesharing is not the starting point – it is the last resort, to be considered only after every possible option has been thoroughly considered. Every case that I’ve seen says that the objecting parent has to do a lot more than just say “I’m afraid of COVID-19” or “my child is afraid of COVID-19”. We’re all afraid. Fear is no excuse to abdicate parental responsibility. Parents have an obligation to not only obey court orders but to facilitate and encourage children to accept and comply with arrangements which adults have determined to be appropriate. This is especially true in cases like this where the parties have joint custody. That’s not an empty label. It means both parents have been entrusted with an equal responsibility to work together in a mature, creative and child-focused manner: 2020 ONSC 2843 at para. 15.”