Law360 Canada ( September 17, 2021, 5:35 AM EDT) -- Appeal by the mother from a decision allowing the father’s appeal from a trial decision that permitted the mother to relocate to Mongolia with the parties’ 5-year-old child. The parties separated when the child was 9 months old. Based on a consent order, the mother had sole custody of the child and the father had access on alternate weekends. The mother was born, raised, educated, and employed in Mongolia before immigrating to Canada. She had significant education and work experience but was unable to obtain secure employment in Canada consistent with her education, ability, and experience. She and the child subsisted on government benefits and child support from the father. The mother wanted to relocate to Mongolia with the child because they would have a better financial situation and increased family support, and it would help the mother’s mental health. The evidence at trial showed that the mother’s family had provided her and the child with love, support, and financial assistance since the child’s birth. The father’s family had been largely absent from the lives of the mother and the child since the parties’ separation. The trial judge found that the relocation was in the child’s best interests, notwithstanding the change in access for the father. The motion judge concluded that the advantages for the mother and the child of moving outweighed the disadvantages of a possible reduction of the father’s contact with the child. The appeal judge found the trial judge erred by focusing on the mother’s reasons for relocation, rather than on whether relocation was in the child’s best interests. He also found there was not a proper evidentiary record to show how the move was in the child’s best interests. He further concluded that the trial judge did not give proper effect to the maximum contact principle....