Mr. Chair, committee members, good afternoon.
First of all, on behalf of the Barreau du Québec, I would like to thank you for inviting us to this meeting to discuss Bill C-78. We are very happy to be here.
My name is Siham Haddadi, and I am a lawyer with the Barreau du Québec and secretary of the Family Law Committee. With me today are Valérie Laberge, who is a member of the Family Law Committee, and Nicolas Le Grand Alary, who is also a lawyer with the Barreau du Québec.
As a professional body, the Barreau du Québec has a mandate to protect the public and the rule of law. Reform of the Divorce Act, which raises issues of promoting the best interests of the child and protecting vulnerable persons, therefore challenges the Barreau in carrying out its mission.
To begin, the Barreau du Québec would like to welcome the reform of the Divorce Act, which puts the child at the heart of deliberations, adapts terminology to soften conflicts and, above all, modernizes the Divorce Act, which had its last major reform in 1997, to make it more relevant to today's family realities. That is the challenge that the legislator set for itself with this bill, and the Barreau du Québec thinks it has met that challenge with great success.