Canada's Divorce Act May Be Changing: What Separating Parents in Ontario Need to Know in 2026

Bill C-223 is a private member's bill introduced by Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner. It went to second reading in the House of Commons on January 28, 2026, and was sent to a parliamentary committee for further review in February 2026.

In plain terms, this bill is asking the Canadian legal system to look more carefully at what is actually happening inside families when couples split up, especially when children are involved and when one partner has been controlling the other in ways that do not always leave visible marks.

The Divorce Act is federal law, which means it applies to married spouses seeking a legal divorce anywhere in Canada, including Ontario. So if you are going through a divorce and dealing with parenting disputes or concerns about your safety or your children's safety, this proposal is directly relevant to you.

For a deeper look at the current Divorce Act and how it is structured, the Department of Justice Canada has the full text available online.

Another important piece of this proposal is about children and how their voices are heard when parents cannot agree on parenting arrangements.

Right now, when a family goes through a divorce and there are disputes about where the children will live and who makes decisions for them, kids' views can be considered. But they are often represented indirectly, through a lawyer or a court-appointed assessor, rather than directly to a judge.

Bill C-223 would create clearer, more direct ways for children to share their perspective with a judge as part of the process.

This does not mean your child would get to decide where they live. Children should not have to carry that weight. What it means is that their experience and what they actually want would have a clearer, more formal place in the legal process. That feels right to me.

This one comes up a lot in conversations I have with clients. There is a belief in some circles that divorce law should default to 50/50 shared parenting unless there is a very specific reason not to. Bill C-223 pushes back on that idea when safety is a concern.

The bill would reject any automatic assumption that equal shared parenting is the right answer in cases where there is evidence of family violence, coercive control, or safety risks involving either the children or a former partner. The best interests of the child would come first, full stop.

That seems like a reasonable place to land.

I want to be clear on this because there has been a fair bit of confusion in online conversations. Bill C-223 is a proposal. It is not law yet.

As of spring 2026, the bill has cleared second reading in the House of Commons and moved to committee review. Before it can actually become law in Canada, it would still need to complete committee review, a report stage, third reading in the House, Senate review, and then Royal Assent. That is a process that takes time and is not guaranteed.

But the fact that it is moving forward at all tells you something important about where the legal conversation around divorce and family safety is heading in this country. You can track the bill's progress on the Parliament of Canada website.

You might be reading this and thinking, okay, but I am already in the middle of everything. What does a bill that is not even law yet have to do with my situation right now?

Fair question.

Understanding the direction the law is moving can help you have better, more informed conversations with your own lawyer. It can help you recognize that if you have been dealing with patterns of control in your relationship, there is a growing formal recognition in the legal community that what you experienced is real and it matters. You are not imagining it. You are not being dramatic.

It also matters when it comes to the home. I work with people going through separation and divorce in Mississauga, Oakville, Milton, and across GTA West, and I see every day how the legal decisions, the emotional weight, and the practical real estate questions all land on people at the same time. They are not separate things. They are all part of the same very hard chapter.

If you are trying to figure out what happens to the house and whether you even have a say in the matter, I wrote about that specifically for Ontario homeowners. Can one spouse refuse to sell the house in Ontario? It is one of the most common questions I get, and the answer is more nuanced than most people expect.

And if you want a place to start that is not overwhelming, I put together a free guide for people navigating real estate during separation. Plain language, practical, no fluff. It is free and it is a good first step.