“It has always been a rule of common law that a parent’s right to custody will not be enforced against a child’s will once the child has reached the “age of discretion”: Rex v. Greenhill (1836), 4 A. & E. 624 (K.B.); Reg. v. Howes (1860), 3 E. & E. 332 (Q.B.). Historically, this meant that the child had the right to withdraw from parental control and the court would not force the child to return to a custodial parent, but would allow the child to live where he or she chose. The age at which a child has the right to withdraw from parental control is codified in s. 65 of the CLRA:
Where child is sixteen or more years old
Nothing in this Part abrogates the right of a child of sixteen or more years of age to withdraw from parental control.
Once a child declares an intention to withdraw from parental control, her independence may — as it was here — be recognized by the police and the schools. There is no formal court process for a child to withdraw. This was recognized by the application judge at para. 13 when she said of O.G:
She did not require a court order or a declaration permitting or enabling her to withdraw from parental control. She did not require a court order to protect her privacy at her school in Oakville because, after informing the principal in writing by letter dated April 22, 2016, the principal respected her instructions and did not provide information to her father. She did not require a court order to prevent the police from apprehending her and taking her back to her father’s home because she informed the police that she had withdrawn from her father’s control and the police respected her right to do so.
Unlike jurisdictions such as Quebec which have procedures for “emancipation”, Ontario law does not have a formal process for withdrawing from parental control. The child simply has to take control of the incidents of custody which include decision making regarding residence and education. No court process is required.
However, there is a distinction between the fact of withdrawing from parental control and an application to court for a declaration that a child has withdrawn from parental control. The former is a right that is exercised unilaterally. The latter engages the court’s jurisdiction with respect to declaratory relief.”
G.(R.) v. G.(K.), 2017 ONCA 108 (CanLII) at 43-46