What is the test for "best interests" in a custody and access matter?

Honour’s “best interests” are the ultimate and only relevant issue on custody and access matters. The multitude of factors that may impinge on a child’s best interest make a measure of indeterminacy inevitable. A more precise test would risk sacrificing the child’s best interests to expediency and uncertainly. Parental conduct, no matter how meritorious or reprehensible, does not enter into the analysis unless it relates to the ability of the parent to meet the needs of the child. (See Gordon v. Goertz, 1996 CanLII 191 (SCC), [1996] S.C.J. No. 52, 19 R.F.L. 4th 177 (S.C.C.)).

In applying the best interests of the child test under the Act, paternal preferences and “rights” play no role in issues of custody and access. It is a legal test, albeit a flexible one, and needs to be applied according to the evidence of the case, viewed objectively. There is no room for the judge’s personal predilections and prejudices. Despite the maximum contact principle, contact is to be restricted if it conflicts with the child’s best interests. (See Young v. Young, 1993 CanLII 34 (SCC), [1993] S.C.J. No. 112 49 R.F.L. 3rd 117 (S.C.C.)).