Is a joint obligation on every parent to support and nurture his or her children to be reviewed in the context of a variation under the Divorce Act?

There is of course a duty on every parent to support and nurture his or her children. The Divorce Act states the obligation in financial terms, and in the context of the objectives of an order made under s. 15 for child support or a variation made under s. 17: both types of order are to "recognize that the former spouses have a joint financial obligation to maintain the child". The Act is not concerned, then, with stating a moral abstract. It is concerned with guiding judges as to the factors to be considered in making orders, and it places on judges the duty to ensure that reasonable arrangements are made for the support of children before their parents may be permitted to divorce. Once an order is made incorporating the terms of an agreement between the parents, it "operates as strong evidence that at the time each accepted its terms as adequately providing for the needs of the children." It follows that "the correctness of the previous order must not be reviewed during the variation proceeding." (per Sopinka, J. in Willick v. Willick, supra, at 687.