One thing we have to appreciate, as parliamentarians, even with a perfect suite of policies on a given issue, is that challenging things still happen to people. Sometimes there are economic consequences if a person loses their job. Sometimes it's criminal behaviour, or sometimes it's the breakdown of a family relationship.
When we're dealing with the very difficult experiences that families have, we should be mindful that it's not for the federal government to stop every negative thing from happening that might play out in a romantic relationship or in a family dynamic. Instead, we should recognize the reality that families live through, including the kids at the centre of those broken relationships. We do what we can to offer professional services in a streamlined way to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the quality of life that people get to enjoy.
You can imagine the set of circumstances, particularly for low-income families who might be going through a family breakdown. They may not have access to public transit and can't afford a car. They are told that the provincial court on one side of town is where they need to go for certain appointments, but the superior court on the other side of town is where they need to go for other appointments. This all stems from the same life event of the breakdown of a relationship. The impact that can have on kids can be profound.
These cases are not monolithic in nature. You're going to see that each relationship is very different. Sometimes the missed appointment at a court can have dire consequences for a person's ability, in an extreme set of circumstances, to maintain custody of their children. You don't want a person's ability to afford a bus ticket to a particular courthouse to determine whether they get to see their children. This may be a rather extreme example, but it illustrates the point.
If we do everything we can to simplify the proceedings and the process—not for the lawyers who administer the system or for the judges who hear the cases, though that's good too, but for the actual user of the court system—to the extent that we can streamline that experience and reduce the cost of that experience, we'll be doing a better job at serving the interests of justice.