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Vol. 139, No. 36 — September 3, 2005 Regulations Amending the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings RegulationsStatutory authority Divorce Act Sponsoring department Department of Justice
REGULATORY IMPACT (This statement is not part of the Regulations.) Description The Regulations Respecting the Establishment and Operation of a Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings in Canada (SOR/86-600) [CRDP Regulations], made pursuant to section 26 of the Divorce Act, have been in force since 1968. The Regulations provide for the establishment and operation of a Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings and also prescribe the Registration of Divorce Proceeding Form (the Form), which must be completed by a court clerk for every divorce application filed pursuant to the Act. The proposed amendment to the CRDP Regulations modifies the Form in three ways. First, it adopts gender neutral terminology by removing reference to terms like "husband" and "wife." This is a consequential amendment to the Civil Marriage Act that came into force on July 20, 2005, which extends equal access to civil marriage to same-sex couples. The CRDP is responsible for the issuance of clearance certificates in order to establish jurisdiction for a divorce application. Thus, when a divorce application is filed in court, the court sends the Form which identifies the two parties to the divorce application to the CRDP. It is then entered and compared to data stored in the CRDP to detect any duplicates that may have already been received from another court. If duplicates are detected, the courts are advised that one action must be discontinued before the other can proceed. If one is not discontinued, subsection 3(2) of the Divorce Act provides that the second petition is deemed to be discontinued and only the first petition filed remains. If there is no duplication detected, the CRDP issues the clearance certificate to the court, which allows it to proceed with the divorce action. With the passage through Parliament of the Civil Marriage Act, which includes consequential amendments to the Divorce Act, the CRDP will now also process applications for married same-sex spouses applying for divorce. To allow for this, references to "husband" and "wife" must be removed from the CRDP Form and substituted with gender neutral terminology. To accomplish this, the Regulations, which include the CRDP Form as a Schedule, need to be amended. The second way the amendment modifies the Form is to update the design of the Form to make it more user-friendly. For example, the new Form will require less handwritten text and will provide response categories. Finally, Part 2 of the Form also requires some modifications to improve national data collection and reporting. Statistics Canada reports national divorce statistics as part of its Vital Statistics series, reporting on such things as incidence of divorce, duration specific divorce rates, and general information on the nature of custody arrangements. This information is part of an ongoing series of data reported nationally and informs the Canadian public on the extent of different custody arrangements for parents. Part 2 of the Form is completed at the disposition of the divorce, and existing questions require adjustment for data quality purposes and to maintain reporting for the different genders. Alternatives These amendments are the only practical alternatives to the existing terminology in the current Form. Benefits and costs The amendment to the Form will not result in significant costs to the federal government. The only costs to be incurred by the Department are the administrative costs associated with printing and distributing the new Form and the Procedures Manual. There will be no cost to the Canadian public and any costs to the courts would be negligible. Benefits to amending the Form include improved data quality and value. Statistics Canada's ability to respond to inquiries about the occurrence of divorce in Canada will increase generally, and divorce rate calculations will improve with the addition of the province of residence at the time the divorce was granted. Increased clarity will bring substantial improvement to national reporting and understanding, including by media, of custody outcomes for parents. This will inform the public and policy-makers with a more accurate reflection of outcomes. This information is already collected, but there lacks an application of a consistent response structure. These amendments will maximize the value of this information. Consultation The amendments to the Form (Parts 1 and 2) have been discussed and developed in consultation with provincial and territorial partners through the Coordinating Committee of Senior Officials — Family Justice (CCSO). The Federal-Provincial-Territorial Research Subcommittee of CCSO was also consulted at the preliminary stage on the changes made to Part 2 of the Form. Compliance and enforcement Compliance with these Regulations is not an issue as they only affect the prescribed CRDP Form which is completed by the court clerk. Lise Lafrenière Henrie, Senior Counsel, Coordinator, Family Law Policy Unit, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8, (613) 957-0059 (telephone), (613) 952-9600 (fax). Notice is hereby given that the Governor in Council, pursuant to subsection 26(1) of the Divorce Act (see footnote a), proposes to make the annexed Regulations Amending the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Regulations. Interested persons may make representations with respect to the proposed Regulations within 15 days after the date of publication of this notice. All such representations must cite the Canada Gazette, Part I, and the date of publication, and be addressed to Lise Lafrenière Henrie, Senior Counsel, Coordinator, Family Law Policy, Family, Children and Youth Section, Department of Justice, 284 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8 (tel.: (613) 957-0059; fax.: (613) 952-9600; e-mail: lise.lafreniere-henrie@ justice.gc.ca). Persons making representations should identify any of those representations the disclosure of which should be refused under the Access to Information Act, in particular under sections 19 and 20 of that Act, and should indicate the reasons why and the period during which the representations should not be disclosed. They should also identify any representations for which there is a consent to disclosure for the purposes of that Act. Ottawa, August 30, 2005 EILEEN BOYD REGULATIONS AMENDING THE CENTRAL REGISTRY OF DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS REGULATIONS AMENDMENTS 1. The definition "registration form" in section 2 of the Central Registry of Divorce Proceedings Regulations (see footnote 1) is replaced by the following: "registration form" means the form entitled "Registration of Divorce Proceeding" set out in the schedule. (formulaire d'enregistrement) 2. Subsection 3(2) of the English version of the Regulations is replaced by the following: (2) A record of pending divorce proceedings in Canada shall be maintained in the central registry and shall consist of the information contained in the registration forms that are received at the central registry. 3. Paragraph 4(b) of the Regulations is replaced by the following: (b) in respect of the application, complete Part 1 of the registration form and send it to the central registry by mail or electronic means. 4. (1) The portion of subsection 5(1) of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following: 5. (1) On receipt of Part 1 of a registration form sent pursuant to section 4, an officer of the central registry shall (2) Subsection 5(4) of the Regulations is replaced by the following: (4) A notification referred to in subsections (2) and (3) may be in the form of an endorsement on the relevant registration form, on a separate notice, or in electronic form. 5. Sections 7 and 8 of the Regulations are replaced by the following: 7. Within seven days after the discontinuance of a divorce proceeding or the taking effect of the dismissal or judgment in respect of a divorce proceeding, the appropriate registrar shall complete Part 2 of the registration form and send it to the central registry by mail or electronic means. 8. On receipt of Part 2 of a registration form sent pursuant to section 7, an officer of the central registry shall enter the information contained in the registration form into the record that is maintained under subsection 3(2). 6. The schedule to the Regulations is replaced by the following: 
COMING INTO FORCE 7. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered. [36-1-o] R.S., c. 3 (2nd Supp.) SOR/86-600 |
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