Section 16.5 — Divorce Act: Contact order

A court of competent jurisdiction may, on application by a person other than a spouse, make an order providing for contact between that person and a child of the marriage. The court may, on application by a person referred to in subsection (1), make an interim order providing for contact between that person and the child, pending the determination of the application made under that subsection. A person may make an application under subsection (1) or (2) only with leave of the court, unless they obtained leave of the court to make an application under section 16.1. In determining whether to make a contact order under this section, the court shall consider all relevant factors, including whether contact between the applicant and the child could otherwise occur, for example during the parenting time of another person. The court may, in the contact order, provide for contact between the applicant and the child in the form of visits or by any means of communication; and provide for any other matter that the court considers appropriate. The court may make a contact order for a definite or indefinite period or until a specified event occurs, and may impose any terms, conditions and restrictions that it considers appropriate. The order may require that the contact or transfer of the child from one person to another be supervised. The order may provide that a child shall not be removed from a specified geographic area without the written consent of any specified person or without a court order authorizing the removal. If a parenting order in respect of the child has already been made, the court may make an order varying the parenting order to take into account a contact order it makes under this section, and subsections 17(3) and (11) apply as a consequence with any necessary modifications.