Volume 4, Number 4, 1985
Articles
- Family Law Reform and the Law Reform Commission of Canada - Julien D. Payne
The policy orientation of the Law Reform Commission of Canada is surveyed with respect to family law reform. The initiaties and influence of the Commission are examined, particularly regards to Unified Family Courts, divorce reform, changes in economic rights of spouses on termination of marriage, enforcement of maintenance orders and parenting after divorce. Future approaches to family law reform may include investigating the role of the State in providing financial security for victimes of marriage breakdown and examining the alternatives of private mediation and arbitration. By promotion the collection of relevant data on Canadian families, the Commission may also serve an educational function.
- Marriage Preparation, Separation, Conciliation, and Divorce: Findings from the Public Images of Law Study - Brian E. Burtch, Andy Wachel, and Carol Pitcher La Prairie
Research on public imagery of law and legal regulations has often been restricted to opinion polling or inferences from anecdotal materials. This paper reports findings pertaining to public legal imagery of marriage and family law drawn from more extensive interviews with a "theoretical" sample of 93 British Columbia residents. These findings suggest that there is a fairly consensual view favouring resolution of "private" matters - marriage preparation, marital difficulties, separation, and divorce - within the sphere of civil society, where possible. In this view, State intervention and mediation are often seen as last resorts or, in such instances as grounds for divorce, as a rather nominal power that should not unduly restrict the freedom of estranged spouses to rearrange their affairs. Beneath this abstract level of consensus, however, our findings reveal splits of opinion - over specific topics - along socio-demographic lines that challenge the concepts of a public. A more systematic approach to issues in marriage and family law is advocated to map the degree of public legitimation of, or resistance to, measure of legal regulation.
- Delivering Family Conciliation and Mediation Services: The B.C. Model - Jocelyn Gifford
British Columbia has one of the highest divorce rates in Canada. It was also one of the first provinces to experiment with Unified Family Courts in the mid 1970s. Although most of the recommendations arising out of the Unified Family Court experience were not implemented, the province has developed a publicly funded conciliation service available to every family and every court in the province which deals with separation and divorce. This paper describes the Family Court Counsellor program in British Columbia and reviews a recent study of its effectiveness, comparing these findings with other research on divorce mediation and conciliation, maintenance and family violence.
- Protecting Children in the North - Alistair Bisset-Johnson
This article focusses on the child protection provisions of the Yukon Territory Children's Act, S.Y.T. 1984, c. 2, an ambitious piece of legislation which deals comprehensively with most areas of the law affecting children in Yukon. The Director of Family and Child Services administers the Act, however, in response to concerns expressed by the Indian community, there is a mechanism by which the Yukon Cabinet may delegate powers of the Director to approved community groups. The primary purpose of the Act is to offer services in a non-confrontational manner. For example, the Act contains provisions for informal transfer of the parental right of custody and voluntary agreements for temporary care. The author discussess the procedures for bringing the matter of child protection before the courts, the conduct and disposition of hearings, the legal effects of children being in care and variation and termination of custody orders. Emphasis is placed throughout on the recognition by the Yukon government of the importance of the child's sense of time, bonding and cultural identification.
- Transracial Adoption and the Status Indian Child - Ann McGillivray
Indian status is not extinguished by adoption but benefits flowing therefrom are denied to status children adopted by non-status parents. Agency policy prohibits issue of registration numbers to minors and relegates notification of status to the discretion of the adoptive parents, denying adoptees equal treatment under the law. The justification of protection of adoption confidentiality must be questioned where the result may be the extinction of legal rights and cultural freedom. Whatever the resolution of the transracial adoption controversy, it cannot change the situation of thousands of adoptees. The complexity of interests involved threatens to overwhelm the sole interests in questions: those of the child.
Review of Periodical Literature
- Fergus C. O'Donnell, "The Four Sided Triangle: A Comparative Study of the Confidentiality of Adoption Records" (1983), 21 U. of Western Ontario L.R. - Michael R. McAllister
- Norman K. Zlotkin, "Judicial Recognition of Aboriginal Customary Law in Canada: Selected Adoption and Marriage Cases" (1984), 4 Canadian Native Law Repoeter 1 -David Butcher
- Laura C. Hamson Hoyano, "The 'Prudent Parent': The Elusive Standard of Care" (1984), 18 U.B.C.L.R. 1 - Ida Freer
- J. Robert S. Prichard, "A Market for Babies" (1984), 34 U. of Toronto L.R. - El Farouk Khaki
In The Family Courts
- Moric v. Moric
- McCarthy v. McCarthy
- Lesser v. Lesser
- R. v. Ronald H., Kelly M. and Kevin Q.
- R. v. D.S.
Casenotes and Comments
- Some Income Tax Considerations Relating to Support Payments Made After 1983 - Edwin G. Kroft
- Child Saving, Legal Panaceas, and the Individualization of Family Problems: Some Comments on the Findings and Reccomendations of the Badgley Report - John Lowman
- A Comment on King v. Low - W.J. Wardell
Book Reviews
- Ontario Family Law Quantum Service. (Toronto: Butterworths, 1984). - E.F. Anthony Merchant
- John M. Eekelaar and Sanford N. Katz, Eds., The Resolution of Family Conflict. (Toronto: Butterworths, 1983). - J.W. Mohr