Bill C-223

Keeping Children Safe Act

An Act to amend the Divorce Act

Sponsor

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Sept. 18, 2025

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Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Divorce Act to, among other things,
(a) require legal advisers who undertake to act on a spouse’s behalf in a divorce proceeding to assess the risk of family violence and, if there is a risk, to take steps to implement an appropriate plan;
(b) provide the means by which a court may more accurately assess the impact of coercive control on a parent-child relationship so as to ensure that children are protected from domestic violence after a separation or divorce;
(c) allow a court, if certain conditions are met, to obtain information or evidence directly from a child in writing or by means of an interview with the child for the purpose of determining the child’s views and preferences; and
(d) address certain myths or stereotypes regarding family violence by providing that courts, in determining its impact, are not to make certain inferences, including that violence no longer occurs once spouses have separated or a divorce proceeding has commenced.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-223s:

C-223 (2021) National Framework for a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income Act

C-223 (2020) An Act to amend the Citizenship Act (adequate knowledge of French in Quebec)

C-223 (2016) Canadian Organ Donor Registry Act

1^st reading

Keeping Children Safe ActRoutine Proceedings

September 18th, 2025 / 10 a.m.

Liberal

Lisa Hepfner Liberal Hamilton Mountain, ON

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-223, An Act to amend the Divorce Act.

Mr. Speaker, it is a true honour for me to table today an act entitled the keeping children safe act, which is a groundbreaking amendment to the Divorce Act. I want to thank the National Association of Women and the Law, in particular Suzanne Zaccour and my good friend with a family law practice Susan Berry for working diligently with me on this legislation.

This bill seeks to give children a voice during divorce proceedings. It would require legal advisers to take coercive control and family violence into account and mitigate their effects. It would change the existing premise in family courts that children are property that must be split equally between parties in a divorce. It would stop the increasing and egregious practice of disregarding children's views and preferences under the pretense they have been manipulated or alienated by a parent. It would prevent judges from restricting time with one parent in order to improve the relationship with the other parent, and it would prevent courts from forcing children to attend so-called reunification therapy.

There is much more to say about this bill, but at the moment, suffice it to say that nearly 300 organizations have called for these reforms. These changes echo the conclusions of the United Nations special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, and its causes and consequences. Therefore, I implore all of my colleagues to please support this legislation. It is really important.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)