Father temporarily loses the right to see his child due to vaccine status

A Quebec judge ruled that a father's visitation rights to his 12-year-old child would be temporarily suspended due to his vaccination status.

According to Le Devoir, the father's vaccine status along with "conspiratorial views" posted to his Facebook helped the judge make his final decision.

"It would normally have been in the best interests of the child to have contact with their child. father, but not in his best interest to have contact with him if he is not vaccinated and is opposed to health measures in the current epidemiological context," the judge ruled, reports Le Devoir.

It was the father in the case who initiated a request to the court in mid-December to modify his visitation rights, wanting one more day a week with his child during the holidays.

The mother opposed it, and opted instead to limit his rights after learning that he isn't vaccinated. She said that the father was a "conspirator" and an anti-vaxxer, Le Devoir reports.

The judge notes that while the child fully vaccinated, that the father is not, and has "reservations about the vaccine."

“[…] it is legal knowledge that vaccination is a preventive measure strongly encouraged by national and global health authorities. "

“[…] it is legal knowledge that the protection is not total, and that it even seems to be reduced in the face of the Omicron variant , which is currently spreading in Quebec. It is also known from legal knowledge that this variant is highly contagious," the judge wrote.

“In these circumstances, it is not in the best interests of any of the three children that Monsieur can exercise access to [his 12 year old child] at this time. "

The father's visitation rights will be reassessed at the end of February 2022.