As part of CTV’s W5 episode Unrestrained, host Avery Haines interviewed Luke’s Place Legal Director, Pamela Cross. Unrestrained aired at 7:00pm EST on November 14, 2020.
Pamela spoke about the complex family law system and described how restraining orders don’t do enough to protect women in abusive relationships.
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Updated endorsements – Brief by Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre, Durham Region, Ontario
Presented by Pamela Cross, October 5, 2020
This brief responds to Bill 207: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act, the Courts of Justice Act, the Family Law Act and other Acts respecting various family law matters.
Ontario’s Family Court Support Worker Program provides invaluable supports to increasing numbers of domestic violence survivors who are involved in the family court process. It has done so with no funding enhancement since its inception in 2011.
The following are speaking notes from a presentation to Honourable Rod Phillips, Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy,
Presented by Pamela Cross, Luke’s Place Legal Director on October 13, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to talk about Bill 207.
I do so on behalf of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, where I am the Legal Director.
On September 24th, Ontario’s Attorney General Doug Downey introduced Bill 207, the Moving Ontario Family Law Forward Act.
This Bill is the province’s long-anticipated follow-up to the federal government’s 2019 changes to the Divorce Act, which are to come into effect on March 1,
Involving children in abuse of their mother after separation is a common tactic of manipulative ex-partners. Many use the children as pawns, drawing them into adult issues, bribing and/or threatening them to try to win their favour or using them to spy on their mother.
One tool abusers use to involve children is communication technology.
From Justice Fryer. Please distribute widely.
The following information applies to the Durham Region Courthouse, located in Oshawa:
Until further notice, all court appearances are to be presumptively held virtually by Zoom as set out in the Notice to the Profession dated July 26, 2020.
If it is felt that an in-person hearing would be beneficial,
In late June, the Law Society of Ontario released a consultation paper on the Family Legal Services Provider Licence, seeking input from stakeholders about the components of the licensing framework as well as contextual information to help determine “the effectiveness of the licence in addressing access to justice needs.”
This paper is the result of a (so far) four-year process that began when the then-Attorney General of Ontario and the then-Treasurer of the Law Society appointed Justice Bonkalo to lead a review of family legal services.
COVID-19 has shone a light on many issues across the province/country/world: issues that existed before the pandemic and that will remain with us after it is over. We have learned (and continue to learn) a great deal during this experience, and we can use that learning as we move through and past the pandemic.
Our Legal Director, Pamela Cross, appeared before Standing Committee on Justice Policy – Bill 161: The Stronger and Smarter Justice Act on June 10, 2020, at 10:00 a.m.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak with you about this Bill.
Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre,
