Court File and Parties
COURT FILE NO.: 597-18 DATE: 2022-03-21 SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE - ONTARIO
RE: Joseph Keith Donovan Bonnay, Applicant AND: Tanya Marie Hines, Respondent
BEFORE: The Honourable Mr. Justice A. Pazaratz
COUNSEL: Deborah Barfknecht, Counsel, for the Applicant Jennifer Vandenberg, Counsel, for the Respondent
HEARD: March 18, 2022
Endorsement
[1] Separated parents, blended families, and work schedules can combine to create overwhelming challenges in determining parenting time.
[2] This was a motion about how to schedule a “fourth weekend”.
[3] The components:
[4] The Applicant father and the Respondent mother have a five-year-old son River who resides primarily with the mother.
[5] The father is a long-distance truck driver working mostly in the United States. He is not available for any mid-week time with the child. He returns to Canada on Friday at irregular times, often quite late. As a result, for an extended period the father has had River in his care most weekends.
[6] However, there are some additional factors which require some modification to the distribution of weekends.
[7] The mother has a nine-year-old daughter Rylie of a former relationship, in her primary care. Rylie spends alternate weekends with her biological father.
[8] The mother asks that she be allowed one weekend per month to have both children in her care, to do family activities together. She proposes that she have the fourth weekend in a four-week cycle, so that she will have River with her on a weekend that Rylie won’t be going to her biological father. She wants a fixed four-week cycle on a year-round basis, for consistency and planning.
[9] The father says his work schedule requires that he be “on call” and available to work on the last weekend of each month. So rather than a fixed schedule, the father proposes that the mother can have River on the last weekend of each month.
[10] The problem, of course, is that some months have more than four weekends. So the father’s variable proposal would mean that sometimes the mother would have both children together on her weekend – but sometimes when River is with her, Rylie will be away visiting the other father.
[11] River’s father says Rylie’s father has been flexible about switching weekends in the past, and he’d likely be flexible in the future. But the mother says this is impossible. Rylie’s father has another child not in his care. Rylie’s father visits both of his children together on alternate weekends. So Rylie’s schedule with her father is fixed.
[12] Both parents have valid arguments.
a. The father says he shouldn’t be penalized for having a job that keeps him away so much. He’s already missing out on mid-week personal contact. He has no alternative but to concentrate his time on weekends.
b. The mother agrees the father should have the majority of weekends. But she says that to get the maximum benefit from the limited number of weekends she gets, it’s important that she have both children with her so they can engage in family activities together. She says it’s not just a question of mother-child contact. River and Rylie benefit from sibling contact, sharing activities which can only arise on weekends.
c. The father insists River and Rylie already have plenty of sibling contact on weekdays. The mother counters that with children being in school all day, weekends offer a precious opportunity to promote all of the relationships in her household.
d. The father says his variable schedule offers the mother the same amount of weekend time with River. The mother says her fixed schedule guarantees she’ll have quality family time with both children at least one weekend a month.
[13] While it is adult schedules which impose constraints herein, the resolution of this dispute must focus on the child’s best interests.
[14] There is no doubt that River has an excellent and important relationship with each of the mother, the father and Rylie.
[15] Equally, there is no doubt that weekends offer a special opportunity for each of those relationships to flourish -- particularly during the school year, when weekday commitments create many more limitations for adults and children alike.
[16] The father has a valid concern: The mother’s fixed four-week cycle would sometimes result in the father missing two weekends in a row.
[17] The mother has an equally valid concern: Depending on which months have five weekends, the father’s variable schedule would sometimes mean he gets River four weekends in a row, while the mother might have to wait closer to two months before she gets a weekend with both children.
[18] It is in the best interests of children that gaps between important family interactions should be minimized, to the extent possible.
[19] While I accept that both parents are trying to make the best of limited options, in my view the father’s proposal has at least two disadvantages:
a. A variable schedule would at times result in unreasonable gaps between weekends when the mother has both children.
b. A variable schedule is also more cumbersome and more prone to confusion, compared to a fixed four-week cycle. Planning and co-ordinating within blended families is tough enough even with a fixed year-round schedule. Changing the allocation of weekends on almost a monthly basis makes planning less reliable, particularly for children who may have more difficulty keeping track of which months have an extra weekend.
[20] In O.C.W. v. T.K.M., 2022 ONCJ 82 (OCJ) Justice Sherr recently dealt with a situation with some parallels. The court concluded that even where a six-year-old child was used to spending every weekend with his father, it was in the child’s best interests to spend one out of every four weekends with the mother, to be allowed to share uniquely “weekend activities” with the mother.
[21] Notably, the parties have resolved all issues other than summer timesharing. While the summer schedule was not part of this motion, I offered to stand the matter down to allow the parties to try to reach some agreement about timesharing during the summer school break. The increased scheduling flexibility during the summer months might have offered opportunities to mitigate some of the scheduling hardship associated with this “fourth weekend” dispute. However, the parties were unable to agree on a summer schedule. They asked that I only make a temporary order in relation to weekends.
[22] Accordingly, I will decide today’s narrow motion in favour of the mother. As well, I will make an order on consent based on 2 accepted offers which were filed.
[23] On consent, final order per “Offer to Settle All Issues” as filed, paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
[24] On consent, final order per “Offer to Settle Motion” as filed, paragraphs 1, 4, 5, 6, 7.
[25] Not on consent, temporary order: The child River shall be with the mother each fourth weekend in a four-week cycle, commencing the weekend of January 22, 2022. The father shall have the child during the other three weekends of the four week cycle, from Saturday at 9:00 a.m. until Sunday at 7:00 p.m. (to be extended to Monday at 7:00 p.m. if it is a long weekend). The distribution of these weekends may be modified by mutual agreement between the parties, confirmed in writing in advance.
[26] On consent, temporary order: The father shall have two midweek FaceTime calls with the child River on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. or at such other times as the parties agree. The mother shall actively encourage and facilitate such calls.
[27] SDO.
[28] If counsel wish to address any issues other than costs, they should contact the Trial Co-ordinator within seven days to arrange a time for the matter to be spoken to by Zoom.
[29] If only costs remain in issue, counsel are to serve and file written submissions on the following timelines:
a. Mother’s submissions by April 4, 2022. (2 page maximum, plus any offers and bills of costs)
b. Father’s submissions by April 18, 2022. (2 page maximum, plus any offers and bills of costs)
c. Any reply submissions by April 25, 2022.
d. These timelines cannot be extended by agreement between counsel.
Pazaratz J. Date: March 21, 2022
