An Act to amend the Divorce Act

Bill C-223 was a Conservative Private Member's Bill amending the Divorce Act (R.S.C. 1985, c. 3, 2nd Supp.) to require courts to consider equal shared parenting (joint custody with equal residence time, sometimes called shared parenting or 50-50 custody) as a starting position in determining child custody. Currently the Divorce Act framework following the 2019 federal reforms (Bill C-78, S.C. 2019, c. 16) uses a best-interests-of-the-child standard with no presumption of equal shared parenting. The Canadian Equal Parenting Council had advocated for the change since 2014. The bill is the federal counterpart to similar provincial advocacy in Ontario's Family Law Act framework. Did not pass second reading.