What is the test for having custody of a child where the parent lives in the other country?

Although under the Divorce Act the court can make orders as to custody and access, it does not have jurisdiction to stipulate where a parent may live. Rather, the court may specify that an award of custody is conditional upon the person living in a certain location or, alternatively, providing that the custodial parent is prohibited from removing the child from a particular jurisdiction. The leading case in Canada is Gordon v. Goertz, 1996 CanLII 191 (SCC), [1996] 2 S.C.R. 27, in which the majority made these findings - - 1) the focus of determining the issue is the child’s best interest and not the parent’s; 2) both parents bear an evidentiary burden in establishing the best interests of the child; 3) while the notion of a presumption in favour of the custodial parent is rejected, the views of the custodial parent are entitled to “great respect”, “great weight” and “serious consideration”. 4) the following factors are relevant in assessing best interest: 1) the existing custodial relationship and relationship between the child and the custodial parent; 2) the existing access arrangement and the relationship between the child and the accessing parent; 3) the desirability of maximizing contact between the child and both parents; 4) the views of the child (where applicable); 5) reason for the move where relevant to custodial parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs; 6) disruption to the child from changing custody; and 7) disruption to child from removal from family, friends and community.