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Boy's trip must be smoke-free 

Another hearing is expected in the New Year to try to broaden the agreement so that Howse, 27, cannot smoke in front of Dustin, a Grade 2 student.

Arsenault said that was the verbal agreement he had with Howse before Dustin was born. The couple split when the boy was about 9 months old. . .

Howse's lawyer, Leigh Freeman, tried to have all the media cleared from the courtroom before the hearing began.

``It's our belief that this (media attention) is not in the best interests of this child,'' Freeman said.

The judge refused her request, but said ``perhaps some sensitivity should be employed'' by the media in covering the case.

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Mother agrees not to smoke in car, ending legal battle 

The 1994 U.S. Surgeon-General's report on second-hand smoke said that second-hand smoke harms children. Children who breathe second-hand smoke have more ear infections, more severe asthma attacks and more breathing problems than children who live in smoke-free homes, according to the report.

Courts in Canada have dealt with similar smoking issues in the past.

A wife in Abbotsford agreed in 1995 to stop smoking in front of her three children after her former husband sought custody to protect them from second-hand smoke.

In 1988, an Ontario family court denied visitation rights to a father who refused to stop smoking in front of an asthmatic child.

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• B.C. man takes smoking wife to court 

A divorced father in Victoria is going to court to stop his ex-wife from taking their son to Arizona – because he's afraid she'll smoke in the car.

Jason Arsenault doesn't want to let Elizabeth Howse take their seven-year-old boy on the car trip, because she hasn't agreed to stop smoking in the car.

Howse has sole custody but Arsenault, as a guardian, must give permission for her to take the boy across the border.

When Howse refused to agree to not smoke in the car, Arsenault refused to sign a document that would allow the seven-year-old to go on the trip.

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• Father asks court to protect child from mother's smoke 

Jason Arsenault, 28, has refused to give Elizabeth Howse, 27, permission to take their son, Dustin, on a trip to Arizona on Dec. 15 because Ms. Howse will not agree to refrain from smoking in the car. Her boyfriend, who is going on the trip as well, also smokes.

Although the case will be watched closely by anti-smoking groups, Mr. Arsenault, a former smoker, said he did not want it to become a test case for non-smokers' rights. . .

Shelley Arsenault said Dustin told them his mother and her boyfriend smoked in the car and the house and that he didn't like it. She said the boy was to ask them not to smoke in front of him and that when he did, he was told it was their car and their rules applied.

Eike Kluge, a philosophy professor at the University of Victoria specializing in medical ethics, said the issues raised by the court action have generated considerable interest.

"What it goes to is the very heart of the issue of what the obligations of parents are to their children in terms of doing the best for the children, and whether parental habits or addiction may put a child at risk."

"The very same logic would then entail that an alcoholic parent should, in fact, have the children removed even though they may have control of their alcoholism."

The outcome of the case could be far-reaching if such wide issues are pressed, he said.

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