Good evening and thank you for inviting us to make submissions on Bill C-78.
My name is Elba Bendo and I'm the director of law reform at West Coast LEAF. West Coast LEAF is a B.C.-based feminist legal advocacy organization. Our mandate is to use the law to create an equal and just society for all women and people that experience gender-based discrimination.
Right now, I'd also like to introduce Kim Hawkins, who's the executive director of Rise Women's Legal Clinic. Rise is a student clinic that provides legal services to low-income women on family law and related issues and we've asked to share our time with Ms. Hawkins.
Like many before me, I would like to say that West Coast LEAF welcomes the important amendments proposed by Bill C-78. We are very glad that the intended purpose of the legislation—to promote faster, better and more cost-effective solutions to family law disputes—recognizes the difficult reality that many people across this country are alone in navigating the legal system during what is often one of the most difficult times in their lives.
Earlier today, you heard from NAWL, who brought to your attention the fact that 31 organizations representing women in all their diversity share in the view that a robust framework around family violence is needed to collectively advance the four goals of this legislation, including that of promoting the best interests of the child.
The reason that I believe you are seeing such a strong and uniform showing on the issue of family violence is that, for decades now, there's been clear and well-documented evidence of the links between family violence, marriage, parenting and divorce. What this evidence has been clearly telling us is that, in some circumstances, increased communication and co-operation among spouses is not in the best interests of the child, and in fact can have dire consequences for women and children.
In our brief, we set out the provisions regarding communication and co-operation that are at the greatest risk of producing harmful outcomes in the context of family violence. In an effort not to duplicate our brief, I will focus my submissions on only two. First, the maximum parenting time provision and also what is commonly referred to as the “friendly spouse” provision, set out in proposed paragraphs 16(3)(c) and (i).
These provisions prioritize paternal rights over the best interests of the child. While these two interests often coincide, this is rarely the case in the context of family violence. In fact, research shows that contact with a violent parent is often not what is in the best interests of the child and can have dire and, at times, lethal implications for children. In practice, these provisions perpetuate problematic myths that suggest that women have malicious intentions to alienate fathers in divorce proceedings. Despite having been firmly debunked, these myths have been relied on to discredit women's legitimate claims of violence over the years, and are, sadly, alive and well in family law proceedings today.
Contrary to these myths, studies show that mothers overwhelmingly want fathers to spend time with their children. Studies also show that there are an increasing number of joint custody and shared parenting arrangements in Canada and that statistics that, at first glance, appear to indicate a bias in the system are really more reflective of the number of fathers that seek custody. In fact, fathers are awarded primary or joint physical custody a majority of the time, when they actively seek it. This is often the case, even when there are allegations of family violence.
These concerns were recognized in B.C., where the new Family Law Act not only excludes these presumptions about what is in the best interests of the child, but specifically directs the courts to not presume that shared parenting time is in the child's best interests. In turn, the act emphasizes that some of the circumstances that are relevant to what is in the best interests of the child include the nature and strength of the child's relationship with significant persons in the child's life, the history of the child's care and the impact of family violence on the child's safety.
We strongly believe that the objectives of the act will be better served with the incorporation of similar language and recommend the removal of the maximum parenting time and friendly parent provisions from this bill.
Due to time constraints, I will end it here and pass it over to Ms. Hawkins.