“Applicant counsel argued that the court should require a motion to vary before helping the parties to resolve their disagreement as to whether the final order permits them to authorize another person to assist with pick-up and drop-offs required by the Access Schedule.
I do not agree. To require a further motion to vary in these circumstances, where the Court gave the parties notice and opportunity to be heard on this specific issue, would have been to create further process without purpose, causing further delay, cost and time to the parties and their children.
In my view, assisting the parties in this way is consistent with, if not required by, the primary objective identified in Rule 2(2) of Family Law Rules. The Ontario Court of Appeal in A.A. v. Z.G., 2020 ONCA 192 recently described “dealing with cases justly” to mean “ensuring that the procedure is fair to all parties, saving time and expense and dealing with the case in the way that is most appropriate to its importance and complexity”. In order to achieve fair and expeditious resolutions, Rule 2 “specifically grants judges some procedural freedom” (at para 24).
Such freedom, elsewhere referred to by the Ontario Court of Appeal as “great latitude”, enables a court, particularly in cases involving unrepresented litigants, to make such substantive orders, whether requested or not, as are needed to effect a just and fair result between the parties: Titova v Titov, 2012 ONCA 864 (at para 48); see also Rule 25(19)(c).”