Judge halts father's visitation rights with child for his refusal of COVID-19 vaccine

Montreal — A Canadian father, unvaccinated against COVID-19 and "opposed to health measures," lost the right to visit his 12-year-old child after a Quebec judge ruled his visits would not be in the child's "best interest." The decision, initially reported by Quebec newspaper Le Devoir and consulted by AFP, was rendered on December 23 and suspends the father's visitation rights until February, unless he decides to get vaccinated.

"It would not be in the child's best interest to have contact with their father if he is not vaccinated and is opposed to health measures in the current epidemiological context," the judge said in his ruling, referring to a spike in COVID cases due to the Omicron variant.

The issue arose when the father requested an extension of his allotted visitation time around the holidays. The mother opposed his request. She told the court she had recently discovered he was unvaccinated and showed his previous social media posts showing an opposition to health measures.