Status Report 2002-2003

OBJECTIVE: The Department of Justice Canada's Child-centred Family Law Strategy overall objective is three-fold: in cases of separation or divorce, (i) to promote decisions tailored to the individual needs of the children; (ii) to promote a family justice system that facilitates the timely resolution of family law matters; (iii) and, to increase compliance with parenting arrangements and child support obligations. To achieve this, the Child-centred Family Justice Fund supports child-centred family justice programs and services delivered by provinces, territories and non-governmental organizations.

PRINCIPAL MEASURES

OUTPUTS 2002-2003

• Negotiate project-funding agreements with provincial/territorial organizations for projects that would benefit official language minority communities.

• The provinces of Quebec, Manitoba and New Brunswick offer family justice services to their minority language communities.
• The family justice services in Quebec are administered and delivered by two Departments, namely, the Department of Justice and Revenue Quebec. The annual contribution for the Department of Justice of Quebec was $2,742,188. Distribution of English administrative forms and training offered by mediators were once again offered in English this fiscal year. Among the projects undertaken by this Department, some projects specifically targeted issues affecting official language minority communities. Examples of projects would be for example, translation and distribution of administrative forms that are sent to parties that are in the process of separating or divorcing. The Department of Justice of Quebec also offers parental education seminars in English. These parental information sessions cover different topics such as the child support payment, custody and access among others. The sessions offered by mediators were given once a month.
• The Department of Justice of Quebec also distributes general information pamphlets of the laws and regulations governing the Child Support Guidelines in Quebec in French and English. These pamphlets cover basic information surrounding child-centred services such as the rights and responsibilities of the parents, mechanisms available to curtail courts proceedings, mediation, mandatory parental education seminars, custody and access among others. This is however done through their own provincial budget.
• The annual contribution for the Department of Revenue Quebec was $791,547. The information pamphlets identified in the previous fiscal year : quarterly Support Payments Bulletin and annual Collection of Support Payment – Your Statement of Account, were updated, translated and sent to debtors and creditors of the Enforcement Program.
• The Department of Justice of Manitoba received an annual contribution of $546,290. The Province has allocated monies to support their bilingual parent education program. They have also translated and produced a Guide to Varying Child Support in Manitoba and they updated the Manitoba Family Law Guide.
• The Department of Justice of New Brunswick received an annual contribution of $369,486.
• The Province continues to offer family justice services to their minority language communities such as the parent education program identified in last fiscal year: For the Sake of the Children. This parent education program is a six-hour course, divided into two sessions of three hours each designed to reach even those with lower literacy levels. This parent education program was designed to assist separating parents to reduce parental conflict and the negative effects it has on their children. The Program has identified priorities and has established objectives to reduce conflict between separating/divorcing parents, to improve the understanding and use of mediation services. It also provides information on the emotional and legal aspects of divorce, courts processes, alternative dispute resolution methods, child support, custody and access issues and identifies community resources. The Province has also produced three videos to accompany the French version of the parent education program.

• Prepare and negotiate agreements with public legal education and information organizations and professional associations to ensure that the needs of official language minority communities are considered in developing various information publications.

• L'Association des Juristes d'expression française de la Nouvelle-Écosse
  This Association has received a grant of $7,491 to produce public legal information on family law to serve the Acadian and francophone population of Nova Scotia.
• This project is a follow-up to a similar activity that was undertaken in 2001. The goal of this project was to disseminate public legal information through capsules and chronicles via the French mediums throughout Nova Scotia. The specific theme this year was the parents responsibilities towards their children – how to adapt and deal with emotions surrounding the issue of separation and divorce.
• The Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia
  This Association received a total contribution of $8,841 for 2002-2003 to develop and produce a French language version of their family law guide and video.
• The purpose of the French language video entitled You Can Help is to provide service providers with information on the child support guidelines so that they are more familiar with the guidelines and their purpose and can inform their clients about the guidelines and where to get further information.
• The video and guide would also ensure that French-speaking agencies and their clients are provided with a visual tool that is kept at a central location. It would also reduce costs associated with providing a trainer in person to groups across the country and could be used as a preparation and information tool for child support applicants and could serve as an information resource for transition houses, women's centres, parent education classes etc.
• Public Legal Information Association of Newfoundland
  This Association has received a grant of $10,000. The grant was awarded to add a family law module to the Association's web-based information service, Law-on-Line. The Association proposed to research, write and produce a Family Law module for Law-on-Line which include: marriage, name change, separation, divorce, custody, child support, spousal support, division of property and living common law. The French language Child Support Video for Service Providers and its accompanying guide will provide agencies with a resource that they can use as an ongoing training tool for intermediaries and service providers. It will provide general information about the Guidelines and answer common questions.

Persons responsible:
Shane Spice, Coordinator
Danielle Bruyère, Program Officer
Tanya Middlebro', Program Officer
Program Development Unit