A father plans to appeal after a Quebec court ruled that he didn't have the right to punish his 12-year-old daughter by banning her from a school trip.
Quebec Superior Court Madam Justice Suzanne Tessier ruled Friday that the girl should be allowed to attend the three-day trip within Quebec this week.
The father first forbade his daughter from going online after the Grade 6 student posted photos on a dating site, the Globe and Mail reported in its Thursday edition.
The girl's parents are divorced, and after she had an alleged row with her stepmother, the dad barred her from going on a school trip to mark the class's graduation from elementary school, the newspaper says.
"When he said, 'OK, it's final. You're not going,' she smacked the door, left and went to live with her mother," the father's lawyer, Kim Beaudoin, told CBC News.
Last Wednesday, the dad received a motion petitioning the court to overturn the punishment.
Two days later, the justice ruled that the punishment was too severe since the girl had already been sufficiently disciplined, said Beaudoin.
Beaudoin said the justice also said there was no reason for the punishment to stand, since the girl was now living with her mother, even though the father has custody.
Beaudoin said the father, who has four children, was "devastated," especially since the ruling came days before Father's Day.
While Beaudoin said the case is a first for her, she doubts it will trigger a flood of similar claims.
"Usually children have lots of respect for their parents and they wouldn't go there," said Beaudoin.
She said the judge stressed that the case was an exception. "But for a field trip, I'm thinking this is a big exception."
