Justice committee  I think that because of the underfunding of the family justice system—and many of you have already identified it—we don't have enough specifically trained judges and we certainly don't have enough counselling available for people. We don't have enough access to legal aid and we d

Justice committee  Yes—not to necessarily exclude people, but to get the information, for sure.

Justice committee  I don't think it should be determinative, but it shouldn't be prohibited. The reality is that if the judge says you can't move with the child, she's going to be in that position anyway. It's a relevant fact. For that matter, it's relevant to ask the non-moving parent whether th

Justice committee  Thank you. Concerning the issue of the child's views, it's extremely important that this legislation recognize that, although the practice in Canada already is to take account of the views of children. The real issue is not whether in theory we do take account of the views of th

Justice committee  There are a number of issues there. In Kentucky there's been no research. They've had that about a year. Arizona does not have a presumption of equal time, although it does have something that looks a bit like maximum parenting. By the way, I read his brief, and to be candid,

Justice committee  Again, I've been privileged to write about this. One way is using what we're calling “cost sanctions”: a judge orders the person who's dragging the process out unreasonably or who is not accepting reasonable settlement offers to pay the legal fees of the other person. This is a b

Justice committee  Again, there are others who are well qualified, but mediation is a provincial responsibility. By the way, you're right in identifying that it is to some extent an unregulated profession in Canada. At the high end, we have some wonderful mediators. At the low end, we have people

Justice committee  It's a great question, by the way, and—

Justice committee  I don't mind starting, because certainly you're right in identifying what we would call problems with access to justice, particularly access to family justice. There have been a number of reports written about it, and I have written articles with other people. One thing is that

Justice committee  Thank you. It's a pleasure and privilege to be here with you today. As was mentioned, I am a law professor at Queen's University. I've been working on family justice issues for close to 40 years. I've written quite a few books and articles, and my work is cited by the Supreme Co