The Civil Code of Quebec does not grant grandparents access rights to their grandchildren, but rather it grants children the right to maintain relationships with their grandparents.
What could be more pleasant than spending the holiday season with family.
The Code Civil of Quebec does not grant grandparents access rights to their grandchildren, but rather the right of children to maintain relationships with their grandparents.
Thus, a close relationship between a mother and her daughter abruptly comes to an end when the daughter decides to move in with her new partner. This mother, now a grandmother, turns to the court* to obtain access rights to her granddaughter, which includes one weekend out of four in addition to two other non-consecutive days per month. The parents oppose, arguing that the grandmother is interfering too much in their lives by citing certain events:
- From the beginning of their union, the grandmother starts a campaign of denigration against her son-in-law. She contacts at least two of her daughter's friends to intervene with her in order to encourage her to leave her partner;
- One day, following a confession from her daughter that a man in her circle is trying to seduce her, the grandmother, by searching through her daughter's phone contacts, obtains the contact information of the suitor and calls him to ask him to court her daughter so that she leaves her partner;
- When the daughter gives birth by cesarean section, the grandmother is present and the father waits in the hospital corridor. She therefore has the privilege of seeing the child before the father and sleeping in her daughter's hospital room, while the father has to leave to go sleep at home;
- During one of her visits, the grandmother tells her daughter that her relationship with her partner is deteriorating and once again suggests that they should live together in City A with her granddaughter;
- A Youth Protection Services worker knocks on the parents' door. They realize that they are the subject of a report directed against the father. The information provided by the worker leads them to believe that the report was initiated by the grandmother.
The judge reminds that the rights granted to grandparents must be exercised while respecting the principle "that all decisions concerning a child must be made in their best interest and with respect for their rights." Observing that the mother "is unable to cut the umbilical cord with her daughter and that this conflict between the parties has negative repercussions on the child's life," the court rejects the grandmother's request.
*CS 450-04-014040-157
