What is the test for a judge to consider past parental conduct in assessing the best interests of the child?
Ontario, Canada
The following excerpt is from Wilson v. Bedard, 2017 ONSC 4517 (CanLII):
In Gordon v. Goertz, 1996 CanLII 191 (SCC), [1996] 2 S.C.R. 27 (S.C.C.), McLachlin J. discussed the Divorce Act s. 16(9) prohibiting a judge taking past parental conduct into account in assessing best interests and said at para. 21: … Parental conduct, however meritorious or however reprehensible, does not enter the analysis unless it relates to the ability of the parent to meet the needs of the child.
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