Category Family Justice

BC Supreme Court Seeking Feedback on Ways to Address Delays in Civil and Family Matters

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The Supreme Court of British Columbia is seeking input from litigants, the public, organizations, and members of the bar on ways to address challenges obtaining hearing dates and ways to ensure that matters are heard in a timely manner once scheduled. The B.C. Supreme Court has formed a Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group to review current practices and procedures and assess possible changes for regular and long chambers.

Potential changes for consideration include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Limiting regular (short) chambers to matters with time estimates of one hour or less;
  • Establishing set time slots (e.g. 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes) rather than having parties provide estimates;
  • For all chambers matters, stricter enforcement of existing rules, e.g. page limits for notices of application and application responses, requiring properly formed legal bases, eliminating serial affidavits and strict enforcement of time estimates.

The Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group welcomes feedback until Friday, September 5, 2025. To provide feedback, please send an email to Chambersfeedback@bccourts.ca.

For more information, including other changes that have been proposed, please visit: https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/documents/Feedback_Invited_Civil_and_Family_Chambers_Practice_Review.pdf.

Information in this post was gleaned from the official Supreme Court of British Columbia “Feedback Invited: Civil and Family Chambers Practice Review” release.

New Paper Examines Relationship between Economic Abuse and Family Businesses in Family Law

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The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) recently released a study paper examining the relationship between economic abuse and family businesses in the context of family law. Understanding Economic Abuse through Family Businesses in Family Law brings attention to a widely overlooked yet deeply harmful form of family violence – one that remains underexplored in legal literature and case law.

The paper explores several key questions, drawing on case law and insights from key informant interviews to examine:

  • What is economic abuse?
  • What is the relationship between economic abuse and family businesses?
  • How are family law cases addressing economic abuse through family businesses?
  • What are the challenges to addressing this type of violence?

Economic abuse includes behaviours that control a partner’s access to financial resources. While it is increasingly recognized in social science, the paper notes it remains poorly understood in legal practice. Family violence includes not only physical and sexual abuse, but also forms of coercive control – such as economic abuse.

Economic abuse is difficult to detect, easy to excuse as ordinary business judgment, and difficult to litigate. The BCLI study identifies how family businesses often enable coercive control during and after relationship breakdowns, especially in matters affecting spousal support and property division.

The paper finds that while legal tools exist, they are underutilized and their capacity to deliver fair outcomes in these cases is doubted by lawyers and victims/survivors. The paper also identifies a general lack of information and significant knowledge gaps on the topic.

While the study paper does not offer formal recommendations for future action, the author, Alison M. Wilkinson, emphasizes the need for more information on how economic abuse through family business is emerging and affecting people.

The study paper is available online here: https://www.bcli.org/publication/study-paper-economic-abuse-family-law/.

Newly Passed Family Law Legislation in the Yukon Promises Inclusivity

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Yukon has passed the Inclusive Yukon Families Act. This new legislation is aimed at better supporting and reflecting the diversity of families across the Yukon. The Inclusive Yukon Families Act “provides new legal pathways for parentage recognition, especially for families formed through assisted reproduction, surrogacy and reproductive material donation.” In addition, the legislation facilitates legal parentage for persons who are members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, transgender community, nonbinary, gender nonconforming or using assisted reproductive methods.

Through the Inclusive Yukon Families Act, more gender-neutral terms such as parent, person, parentage and birth parent will replace gendered terms such as mother, father, and paternity.

The Inclusive Yukon Families Act represents an update to the Children’s Law Act, Vital Statistics Act and Change of Name Act.

The press release discussing the Inclusive Yukon Families Act is available in English here: https://yukon.ca/en/news/inclusive-yukon-families-act-receives-assent-yukon-legislative-assembly.

Information in this post was gleaned from the “Inclusive Yukon Families Act receives assent in the Yukon Legislative Assembly” press release.

Quebec Announces $80M to Improve Access to Justice

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Quebec’s Ministry of Justice, together with the Chambre des notaires du Québec and the Barreau du Québec have announced a commitment of $80 million through 2029 to support better access to justice for Quebecers.

A significant percentage of this funding will support access to justice for self-represented litigants, with priority given to litigants in family, civil, and youth protection disputes. Specifically, funding will support the deployment of lawyers and notaries in courthouses to assist self-represented parties and in community organizations “to improve the front-line services on offer”.

An infographic published by Quebec’s Ministry of Justice provides insight on the spending breakdown for the first tranche of funding:

  • $10 M to support projects aimed at improving access to justice. A call for project proposals is forthcoming.
  • $21 M to support timely access to legal support from lawyers and notaries at courthouses.
  • $17.3 M to support the deployment of lawyers and notaries in community-based organizations (such as, for example, consumer or tenant rights organizations).

The press release by Quebec’s Justice Ministry is available here (French only): https://www.quebec.ca/nouvelles/actualites/details/le-ministre-de-la-justice-la-chambre-des-notaires-du-quebec-et-le-barreau-du-quebec-concluent-une-entente-historique-80-millions-de-dollars-pour-favoriser-lacces-a-la-justice-62254.

The infographic outlining first-round spending priorities is available here (French only): https://cdn-contenu.quebec.ca/cdn-contenu/adm/min/justice/programmes/justice-citoyens/PUB_Napperon_Entente_MJQ.pdf.

A news article discussing Quebec’s $80 M access to justice commitment is available (in English) here: https://montreal.citynews.ca/2025/04/15/quebec-support-citizens-represent-themselves-court/.

Alberta Seeking Feedback to Improve Access to Family Justice Services

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The Government of Alberta has launched a survey aimed at gathering feedback from Albertans on how the province’s family justice services can better support their needs. According to a Government of Alberta new release about the public survey, Alberta’s government is “committed to supporting Alberta families, improving access to justice and investing in the family justice system…[including] expanding services that help Albertans resolve their family law issues in a manner that promotes family well-being while reducing pressure on the courts.” The survey, which launched on November 22nd,is open to Albertans until December 20th, 2024.

As recently as 2023, there have been several major investments in family justice in the province, include $5 million to expand pre-court services in Edmonton and Calgary. In 2025, $3 million will be allocated to the expansion of the province’s Family Justice Strategy to Red Deer. The province continues to see an increase in the number of Albertans accessing pre-court services. As of October 2024, almost 50,000 Albertans accessed pre-court services through the Family Justice Strategy, and almost 27,000 Albertans used the Alberta Family Resolution Hub for the first time. In addition, there has been an almost 13 per cent increase in the use of dispute resolution programs such as mediation.

To learn more about Alberta’s Family Justice Strategy or to access the survey, visit: https://your.alberta.ca/fjs-public/surveys/survey1.

Information for this post was gleaned for the “Expanding access to family justice” news release published by the Government of Alberta: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=914054E15BAF9-9F5C-DA0E-E71FF8EB0D5BEC66.

Justice Canada Publishes Report Examining Out-of-Court Dispute Resolution in Family Law

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In 2023, the Department of Justice Canada launched a study aimed at examining government-funded out-of-court dispute resolution services for families experiencing a separation or divorce in Canada. The study focuses on better understanding the following questions:

  • What are the mediation or conciliation services or programs offered by provinces and territories to resolve family law issues?
  • How are outcomes measured? What does a successful or partially successful outcome look like? Partially successful outcome?
  • Which factors are consistent across jurisdictions?

The final report includes a summary of program features, details on COVID-19 pandemic response and other changes to programs, service metrics and discusses the potential for further research.

The recently published report on “Out-of-court dispute resolution for families experiencing separation or divorce in Canada” is available in English here: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/jr/dispute-differends/docs/rsd_rr2023_out-of-court-dr-eng.pdf.

Justice Canada Launches Survey on Federal Child Support Guidelines

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Child support in Canada is calculated using child support guidelines. Child support guidelines comprise of rules and tables used to determine child support amounts. The Federal Child Support Guidelines are regulations under the Divorce Act that apply when parents divorce or are divorced. There are also provincial and territorial child support guidelines that apply when married parents separate but do not divorce, or when the parents were never married to each other.

The Department of Justice has launched a survey to gather feedback on possible changes to the Federal Guidelines. The survey focuses on two main areas of the Federal Guidelines:

  • Determining child support amounts in shared parenting time arrangements and
  • Compliance with income disclosure obligations.    

The survey will take roughly 15 minutes to complete. The deadline to participate in the survey is September 25, 2024. Responses will be anonymous.

To access the survey, visit: https://form.simplesurvey.com/f/s.aspx?s=42c6ed2c-8127-47a7-b3a7-f264c5d32a92.

To access a PDF version of the survey, contact: rsd.drs@justice.gc.ca. 

Some information in this post was taken verbatim from an e-blast circulated by Justice Canada.

The Advocates’ Society Calls for Expansion of Unified Family Courts to Increase A2J

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A newly published paper by The Advocates’ Society (TAS) calls for Canada’s federal and provincial governments to implement and fully resource Unified Family Courts across Canada, in areas where this service is not available. Delay No Longer: Family Justice Now highlights the crisis in Canada’s family court system, which the paper identifies as exacerbated by inefficiencies, costs, and delays created by the handling of family law matters by a two-tiered family court system.

Unified Family Courts are specialized and would allow for all family law matters to be handled in one place. The Unified Family Court was first introduced in Canada in the 1970s.

The paper examines:

  • The Current State of Unified Family Court Expansion in Canada
  • What Unified Family Courts Do and Why they Matter
  • Benefits of Unified Family Courts
  • Possible Challenges for the Broader Implementation of Unified Family Courts

Delay No Longer: Family Justice Now – A Call to Implement the Unified Family Court Across Canada by The Advocates’ Society is available online here: https://www.advocates.ca/Upload/Files/PDF/Advocacy/DelayNoLonger/Delay_No_Longer_Family_Justice_Now_June_2024.pdf.

Alberta, Ontario Announce Steps to Enhance Access to Justice

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Alberta

On December 1st, Alberta’s government announced a new Family Justice Strategy aimed at making it easier for Albertans to address family court matters. The news release indicates that, “the new Family Justice Strategy will help align services in both the Alberta Court of Justice and the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, so that Albertans can access the same types of services no matter which court they attend”.

The provincial government’s $5 million investment in the Family Justice Strategy will expand pre-court services in Edmonton and Calgary, including alternative dispute resolution, family court counsellors, and parenting interventions. In addition, the government is introducing a Family Resolution Hub online tool to provide information for Albertans dealing with family law matters.

Information about Alberta’s investment in increasing access to family justice services is available in English here: https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=893927C5CE690-FFA2-A2F0-ACF90115EB8E62CE

Ontario

Ontario’s government is proposing new legislation which, if passed, would seek to make it easier for victims of crime to sue an offender for emotional distress, protect children and youth from cannabis, enhance community safety, and make court and government operations more efficient.

The Enhancing Access to Justice Act, 2023 is among several legislative changes being proposed by the provincial government. Changes to the Courts of Justice Act and other statutes are aimed at improving court efficiencies and ensuring court, jury and administrative procedures and operations are clearer and more accessible.

The press release on the Ontario government’s Enhancing Access to Justice Act, 2023 is available in English here: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/1003902/enhancing-access-to-justice-act-2023.

Information about the proposed Enhancing Access to Justice Act, 2023 is available in French here: https://news.ontario.ca/fr/backgrounder/1003902/loi-de-2023-visant-a-ameliorer-lacces-a-la-justice.

Australian Report Suggests National Legal Aid Program on the Brink of Collapse

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A new report prepared by Impact Economics and Policy for National Legal Aid (Australia) highlights funding and other challenges that have left the nation’s legal aid services in a state of crisis. According to the report, “Australia’s justice system is in crisis because people can’t access it, and the program designed to [e]nsure access is buckling under the weight of growing demand and shrinking supply.”

In 2014, a major report recommended an additional $200 million per year in funding for legal aid to address unmet legal need. The funding was not provided. Since the 2014 report, however, there has been a 3 per cent per capita cut in government funding for legal aid services. The result is that many, mostly disadvantaged groups in Australia lack adequate access to legal representation and services. Funding gaps are especially critical for matters related to civil and family law.

The cost of unresolved legal problems in Australia – including costs related to lost income, health impacts and seeking redress – is estimated to be between $11 billion and $66 billion in 2023. The compares to an estimated cost of $484 million to adequately fund Legal Aid in 2023. The annual estimated benefit derived from investing in Legal Aid is $639 million.

Justice on the Brink: Stronger Legal Aid for a Better Legal System is available online here: https://ajrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/0f02e-justiceonthebrink.pdf.