CITATION: Saucier v. Lafrance-Dion, 2026 ONSC 3370

COURT FILE NO.: FC-24-00000186-0000

DATE: 2026/06/08

BETWEEN:

Peter Saucier

Applicant

– and –

Jessica Lafrance-Dion

Respondent

Self-represented Applicant

Jessica E. Bazor, counsel for the Respondent

HEARD: April 20, 21, and 24, 2026

1This application is brought under the Children's Law Reform Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.12 (the CLRA) and the Family Law Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. F.3 (the FLA).

2The trial lasted three days. The applicant father was self-represented, and the respondent mother was represented by counsel. The issues to be determined were:

a) Decision-making responsibility and parenting time for the child, Sandra Saucier (Sandra) born October 19, 2018.

b) The steps needed to reintegrate the applicant into the child’s life, with a view to unsupervised parenting time.

c) The cost and responsibility for the transportation of the child to facilitate parenting time; and

d) The applicant’s income for the purposes of child support and s.7 expenses.

Evidence and Findings of Fact:

Decision Making and Parenting Time:

3The court heard evidence consisting of the trial record, affidavits, documentary evidence, text messages, a February 2026 report card, medical records, and viva voce testimony from the parties and several witnesses.

4Based on the evidence, I make following findings of fact relevant to the issue of parenting:

The parties began their relationship in February of 2017.
On October 19, 2018, they had a child together Sandra Saucier (Sandra).
The couple went through a marriage ceremony in June of 2019; however, the marriage certificate was never registered.
The respondent (Jessica) is on the Ontario Disability Support Program which provides her with $24,534 per year. She also collects $720 per month in child tax benefits. She suffers from anxiety, depression, and epilepsy. She also has paralysis on her left side restricting the use of her left arm caused by a stroke suffered at birth. Her health issues are currently well managed, through therapy and medication.
Jessica indicated that she and the applicant (Peter) jointly parented Sandra in equal measure from 2019 to 2023. Peter was unemployed and they shared the parenting responsibilities. As she put it, he was “a good dad”.
In 2024, Peter returned to work for a landscaping company. His hours were erratic and he often got called away to work extra hours.
During the relationship, Peter exercised an inordinate amount of control over Jessica, their finances, and their personal lives. A prime example is having his friend Jacob Warren come to live with the family without consulting Jessica.
Jacob Warren has insulted and belittled Jessica as a mother including in front of Sandra.
Jessica became estranged from her parents during the relationship.
In August of 2024, the Children’s Aid Society attended the home after a report that Sandra was seen urinating on the front lawn of their property. They conducted an assessment and concluded that there were no protection concerns, and Sandra remained in Jessica's care.
On August 20, 2024, Peter unilaterally removed Sandra from Jessica’s care and brought her to his mother Heather Cameron (Heather).
No explanation of any kind was given to Jessica for this course of action. Peter also brought Sandra's birth certificate and health card.
Heather then took steps to enroll Sandra in a primary school in Lanark County, without Jessica's knowledge or permission.
Heather facilitated some video or telephone calls between Jessica and Sandra, with no other contact from August 20, 2024 until September 2024.
With the assistance of her aunt Lucille Lafrance (Lucille), Jessica attended at Heather's home and retrieved Sandra.
On September 5, 2024, Jessica and Sandra went to stay at rental cabins/cottages with her parents and other members of her family.
Peter and his friend Justin Warren (Justin) drove to the cabins to try to take Sandra back.
Peter and Justin threatened Jessica's family and Jessica if Sandra was not returned to his care. The police were called. The manager of the cabin campgrounds had Peter and Justin removed from the property.
Since that time, Jessica and Sandra have resided with her parents, in their home, in the Town of Carp. She and Peter were now separated on a permanent basis.
In November 2024 Peter brought an application claiming decision-making power and parenting time with Sandra.
At that time, Peter was represented.
On December 6, 2024, Justice Kershman granted an interim order which included among other things Peter having supervised parenting time from Friday after school to overnight Saturday every second weekend. Heather, Peter's mother, was to act as supervisor.
The parenting time took place at Heather's home.
Peter had an acrimonious falling out with Heather in June of 2025. His parenting time with Sandra came to an end.
Peter has anger management issues. His text messages to his mother, how he treated Jessica, his mother's affidavit sworn September 12, 2025, and his demeanor and manner of responding to questions during his trial testimony have led me to this finding.
In October of 2025, the parties agreed to supervised visits at the Rose Garden Family Support Centre (Rose Garden) in Smiths Falls.
At the time of trial, Peter had not registered at the Rose Garden and had not seen Sandra in approximately 11 months.
At the time of trial, Peter resided in Smiths Falls with his partner Christine, Jacob Warren and his partner, and his two children every second week.
Historically, there has been the use of drugs by members of that household, including marijuana and hard drugs
Since September of 2024, Sandra has been residing with Jessica and her parents. They reside in the Town of Carp. The evidence supports the proposition that she has been doing very well and thriving in that living arrangement. The testimony of her grandparents, Jessica, her report cards, and the medical evidence (charts) all act in concert to support this finding.
It is a 51-kilometer drive from Carp to Smith Falls.
Sandra attends St. Michael School (Corkery) located in Carp, Ontario. She will be in grade 3 next year. There is no bus system from Smiths Falls to the school.
Regarding transporting Sandra for parenting time, the order dated December 6, 2024, provided that Peter would pick Sandra up on Friday after school in Carp, and drop her off at the Esso gas station parking lot in Carleton Place on the Saturday where Jessica's father would pick her up.
At the time of trial, Peter advised that he currently did not have a vehicle or current means of transporting Sandra to and from his parenting time.

Legal Principles:

5The determination of decision making and parenting time is governed by section 24 of the CLRA. Subsections (1), (2), (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(g)(h), and (i), (5) and (6) specifically apply here and provide the following:

24 (1) In making a parenting order or contact order with respect to a child, the court shall only take into account the best interests of the child in accordance with this section.

(2) In determining the best interests of a child, the court shall consider all factors related to the circumstances of the child, and, in doing so, shall give primary consideration to the child’s physical, emotional and psychological safety, security and well-being.

(3) Factors related to the circumstances of a child include,

(a) the child’s needs, given the child’s age and stage of development, such as the child’s need for stability;

(b) the nature and strength of the child’s relationship with each parent, each of the child’s siblings and grandparents and any other person who plays an important role in the child’s life;

(c) each parent’s willingness to support the development and maintenance of the child’s relationship with the other parent;

(d) the history of care of the child;

(g) any plans for the child’s care;

(h) the ability and willingness of each person in respect of whom the order would apply to care for and meet the needs of the child;

(i) the ability and willingness of each person in respect of whom the order would apply to communicate and co-operate, in particular with one another, on matters affecting the child;

(5) In determining what is in the best interests of the child, the court shall not take into consideration the past conduct of any person, unless the conduct is relevant to the exercise of the person’s decision-making responsibility, parenting time or contact with respect to the child.

(6) In allocating parenting time, the court shall give effect to the principle that a child should have as much time with each parent as is consistent with the best interests of the child.

Analysis:

6After applying the findings of fact to the governing principles, I conclude:

That the primary decision-making should be the responsibility of Jessica and that Peter should be consulted on any significant decisions, but that ultimately Jessica will have the final say.
All communication between Jessica and Peter should only be with respect to issues surrounding Sandra and should always be by text messages.
Sandra should continue to reside on a full-time basis with Jessica and her parents. She is well settled and thriving. It is in her best interests to do so.
Peter has anger management issues; these need to be addressed prior to having unsupervised parenting time with Sandra.
Peter should have specific scheduled parenting time, commencing as supervised parenting time leading to unsupervised parenting time once an anger management program is completed.

7There were other concerns and issues raised by the parties that need to be specifically addressed in any final parenting order. These included:

The method and cost of transporting Sandra for the purposes of parenting time with Peter. The distance between their respective residences is about 51 kilometers. Peter does not have a car and Jessica does not drive.
What conditions, if any, should there be once unsupervised parenting time is in place, including that Jacob Warren not be present during unsupervised parenting time. Jacob lives with Peter together with his partner making this request somewhat impractical.

8I do not believe that a condition that Jacob Warren be absent during Peter’s unsupervised parenting time is required. There was not any evidence of a protection concern only that he was rude to Jessica from time to time. A condition that neither parent or anyone in their household speak negatively about the other around Sandra or expose Sandra to drug use or cigarette smoke ought to suffice in the circumstances.

Peters’ Income, Child Support, and Section 7 Expenses:

9There has been a history of nondisclosure of income on the part of Peter. He had a work history as a landscaper and perhaps a landscaping supervisor at various times in 2024-2025.

10On June 17, 2025, a temporary order was consented to where Peter's income was imputed to be $13,000 per year. Child support and his share of the s. 7 expenses was based on that amount. The support ordered was $41.00 per month and Peter would be responsible for 35% of the Section 7 expenses. Peter was also ordered to notify the Family Responsibility Office of any change in his employment status.

11Jessica, through her counsel, asked the court to impute income of approximately $68,000 per year based on the notion that Peter could obtain employment as a landscape supervisor.

12At trial, it came to light, that Peter has been employed with Emterra Environmental, a waste management company, since late December of 2025. It was disclosed that he was earning $22.00 per hour, worked about 42 hours per week, and that he also worked some overtime. Peter also indicated that he anticipated becoming a driver for this company in the not-too-distant future, where his hourly rate would increase.

13This information allows for the finding that Peter’s annual income for the purposes of calculating child support is about $50,000 per year dating back to January of 2026.

14The s.7 expenses claimed for Sandra are reasonable and I would allow them.

15The guideline child support based on this income is $451 per month and I would apportion the s. 7 expenses at 65% for Peter and 35% for Jessica based upon their respective incomes.

16The child support should be retroactive to January 1, 2026. Peter should be afforded time to pay off accumulated arrears.

Final Order and Conclusion:

17Therefore, based upon the findings herein, I would make the following order:

Decision Making and Parenting Time:

a) The primary residence of the child, Sandra Elizabeth Marie Saucier DOB October19, 2018, (Sandra) shall be with the respondent, Jessica Lafrance-Dion.

b) Jessica shall have the primary decision-making responsibility for Sandra for all major decisions including health, education and religion. Jessica shall consult with the applicant Peter Saucier (Peter) on the major decisions, the communications will be by text messages and will only concern the child Sandra. Jessica as the primary decision maker will have the final say.

c) Peter shall have the following parenting time:

i. Supervised parenting time every other weekend for a period of up to four hours at the Rose Garden Supervision Centre (Rose Garden) in Smiths Falls, or by a third party as agreed upon between the parties in writing.

ii. Peter shall complete the STEPPS program (Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem-Solving Program) with Lanark, Leeds and Grenville Addictions and Mental Health. Or a comparable program that is acceptable to Jessica.

iii. Upon Peter’s completion of the program and providing a certificate of completion to Jessica, he shall have unsupervised parenting time with Sandra every other Saturday for the day (from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM). While the parenting time takes place Peter shall not be under the influence of alcohol or cannabis, nor will he expose Sandra to drug use or cigarette smoke.

iv. Neither parent nor anyone they live with shall speak negatively of the other parent in the presence of Sandra.

v. Following five unsupervised visits, there shall be overnight visits from Saturday 10:00 a.m. to Sunday 6:00 p.m. with the same conditions.

vi. For the purposes of the supervised visits at the Rose Garden in Smiths Falls, Jessica shall arrange for the transportation of Sandra to and from the place where parenting time is to take place with Peter. Peter will compensate Jessica for the cost of the transportation in the amount of $60.00 round trip. Once parenting time becomes unsupervised, the pickup and drop off point will be at the Esso station parking lot in Carleton Place, Ontario.

d) Jessica will be permitted to travel with Sandra outside of Canada without Peter’s consent but will advise him in advance of intended travel plans. Peter will only be permitted to travel with Sandra outside of the Province of Ontario with Jessica’s written consent.

e) The issue of parenting time with Peter shall be reviewable following 4 overnight weekend visits, on 10 days notice by either party before any Justice of the Superior Court (Maranger J. is not seized with the matter).

Child Support and Section 7 Expenses

f) The applicant Peter Saucier DOB April 16,1989 shall pay child support of $451 per month based upon earnings of $50,000 per annum, being the amount set out in the Child Support Guidelines for the Province of Ontario.

g) The start date for the child support will be January 1, 2026.

h) The arrears of child support will be fixed at $410 per month from January 2026 to July 1, 2026, or $2,460. The arrears shall be paid at a rate of $102.50 per month until paid in full.

i) The s. 7 expenses will be split proportionate to the parties’ incomes. Peter will pay 65% and Jessica 35%. The s. 7 expenses will include the following: the cost of eyeglasses and the cost of the ocular visual assessment, two weeks of sports summer camps, swimming lessons, and dancing lessons.

j) Jessica will provide the invoices for the s. 7 expenses, and Peter will pay 65% of the specific expense to Jessica.

k) The parties will exchange their respective Notices of Assessment no later than July 1 of each year going forward. The child support and section 7 expenses shall be adjusted accordingly.

18With respect to costs, the respondent Jessica was the successful party in this case, and if the parties are unable to resolve the issue, I will accept two pages of written argument as follows:

(a) The respondent within 15 days of the release of this decision.

(b) The applicant within 7 days thereafter.

(d) Failing submissions, I will presume the issue resolved and will not order costs.

19Counsel for the respondent Jessica will provide a draft order in accordance with this decision to the applicant Peter for his approval, failing which, it shall be provided to the court for the purposes of settling the order.

Released: June 8, 2026