Two COVID-19 family law decisions addressing the issue of what makes a case “urgent” under the present court regime in Ontario have been decided on in the past week. One has been reported (Smith v Sieger, 2020 ONSC 1861); the other, Ribeiro v Wright, is expected to be reported shortly,
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Toronto Star reporter, Jim Rankin, interviewed Luke’s Place and other women’s services on the impact of social distancing and self-isolation during the COVID-19 crisis.
Nearing the end of March Break, a woman gets a call from her ex. He says he’s going to keep the kids past his regularly scheduled access,
In an emergency, dial 911 for immediate assistance.
Connect with the women’s shelter in your community (you can find a list at ShelterSafe.ca). Even if you don’t stay at the shelter, staff can provide outreach services to support you and can help you make an emergency escape plan as well as a safety plan.
The connection between COVID-19 and the safety of women living in or attempting to flee abusive relationships may not be immediately obvious, but those of us practising family law, in particular, need to be aware of it.
Public policy decisions that close schools, community centres, libraries, arenas and swimming pools; encourage people to work remotely from home;
Early in my law career, the opposing party on a family law file involving family violence was representing himself. I was retained on a bare bones legal aid certificate. In my naivete and desire to save my client the cost of hiring a process server, I decided to serve her ex myself.
Bill 161, the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, will amend more than 20 existing pieces of legislation. Of particular concern to advocates for women fleeing abuse are the proposed revisions to the Legal Aid Services Act 1998.
While it is certainly the case that this legislation is long overdue for updating,
Twenty-three years ago, three-and-a-half-year-old Luke was killed by his father on his first unsupervised access visit after Luke’s mother had tried to get a family court order for supervised access, because of her concerns for her son’s safety. In the intervening 23 years, far too many children have been killed by their fathers: according to Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee,
As I mentioned in my remarks when I received the Guthrie Award recently, there has been little attention paid to ensuring that lawyers – particularly family law lawyers – are educated about the issue of family violence. This creates a significant barrier to access to justice for families where violence has been a factor.
Not every survivor of family violence walks into her lawyer’s office with a broken arm or black eye. Even when there is physical abuse, few clients readily open up about this with their lawyer. Identifying the subtler forms of abuse is even more challenging. Coercive controlling behaviours, including emotional and psychological abuse and financial control,
Executive Director, Carol Barkwell, introduced Pamela Cross, our Legal Director, before Pam received the Guthrie Award from the Law Foundation of Ontario on October 17.
It is a tremendous honour to celebrate Pamela Cross today. I can think of no other person who has done more for women’s access to justice in Ontario.
