It's cruel and inhumane to deny parents access to their minor children, and vice versa, even during a pandemic. In-person visits should be allowed wherever it is reasonably possible, both for custodial and non-custodial parents, and assuming parent and child are agreeable to the arrangement. In a few of the most egregious instances, I can see that they might need to be supervised visits.

This is not always happening, however. A recent case heard before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association as intervenor, makes this depressingly clear:

https://ccla.org/cclanewsite/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FIN-CCLA-FS-20-16365-redacted.pdf

Further issues have arisen since the schools re-opened. What if one of the parents wants their children to attend school in person while the other is only comfortable with virtual schooling?

Well, it depends. After all, that's why we have a legal system in the first place!

In Brockville, two estranged parents with joint custody are relying on our court system to make the final determination in the matter. Mother wants kiddo to attend school in person. Dad says no, because he and his new wife both suffer from asthma and consider that they have compromised immune systems.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/court-asthma-brockville-homeschooling-1.5725139

It will be interesting to see how this one plays out, although very sad to see how many children are finding themselves pawns in grown-up disputes.

In the Toronto area recently, a Newmarket judge sided with a mother who wanted her son to return to school in person, while here again, the boy's father wanted to go with virtual schooling:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-judge-orders-child-to-return-to-school-over-one-parent-s-objections-1.5711488

There's no one right answer for every family, of course. But unfortunately, the consequences of checking the wrong box on a multiple-choice test are rather more severe when it comes down to real lives of real children.
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