Family
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March 28, 2025
Canadian legal groups and regulators slam Trump administration’s ‘attacks’ on U.S. judiciary and bar
Canadian bar groups and the country’s 14 legal regulators are condemning the new U.S. administration’s “attacks” on American legal institutions. The concerns of Canada’s legal community were sparked recently by various calls from U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies to impeach judges who have not ruled in favour of the Republican administration’s actions, as well as by presidential executive orders and negative statements targeting individual lawyers and law firms, the immigration bar and so-called “Big Law” in the United States.
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March 26, 2025
Ontario Law Commission seeking public input on improving protection orders
The Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) has launched two surveys aimed at gauging opinions about how to improve protection orders in the province to ensure people are kept safe from intimate partner and family violence.
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March 25, 2025
MARITAL OR FAMILY PROPERTY - Equalization or division - Family property, what constitutes - Inheritances or gifts - Tracing
Appeal by husband from trial judge’s rulings on retroactive child support and spousal support and division of family property; cross-appeal by wife challenging the judge’s valuation of the husband’s excluded property claim.
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March 24, 2025
EI changes introduced to better support workers from impact of tariffs
Workers adversely impacted by the U.S.-Canada trade war could receive employment insurance (EI) benefits sooner under a six-month pilot program launched by the federal government.
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March 21, 2025
Court of Appeal upholds action despite six-year delay, cancels certificates of pending litigation
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court’s decision not to dismiss a legal action despite a six-year delay in prosecution — but overturned a ruling that allowed related certificates of pending litigation (CPLs) to remain in place.
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March 21, 2025
Canada sanctions 8 Venezuelan officials, 3 Haitians individuals with dealings and immigration bans
The Government of Canada has imposed sanctions against three individuals it says have exacerbated the political, security and humanitarian crisis in Haiti and against eight current senior officials of the Venezuelan government it says have engaged in activities that directly or indirectly supported human rights violations or anti-democracy violations in Venezuela.
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March 21, 2025
SCC upholds 9-0 conviction for indecent assault committed against a young child
Underscoring that adults’ intentional sexual contact with children is a crime, regardless of who physically initiates the contact, the Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously affirmed the indecent assault conviction of a babysitter who induced a five-year-old’s oral contact with what he falsely told her was his “ice-cream” maker.
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March 21, 2025
Quebec legislative proposal to create Unified Family Tribunal panned by experts
In its latest effort to revamp family law, Quebec introduced a bill that lays the groundwork to establish a unified family court to curb delays, simplify proceedings, and handle the majority of family legal proceedings, with an eye towards eventually stripping Superior Court of family matters, an undertaking family law experts have panned as ill-conceived and riddled with shortcomings as it is currently drafted.
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March 20, 2025
Federal plan aims to end over-criminalization of Indigenous people & support Indigenous legal orders
The minority Liberal government has rolled out its “Indigenous Justice Strategy”— the first federal roadmap toward revitalizing Indigenous laws and legal orders and ending the over-criminalization of Indigenous people in Canada, Ottawa says. The single-spaced 46-page document was developed by the federal government over more than four years, taking into account extensive consultations with Indigenous community members, representative organizations and governments, as well as with provincial and territorial governments.
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March 20, 2025
Family law appeals: Simplify the process | Gary Joseph
I have previously written about the complexities of family law appeals. I would certainly agree with those who argue that such appeals should be discouraged but let’s all agree that there are times when lower court results are not entirely in accord with accepted jurisprudence and family law litigants should have access to the appeal process to address legitimate concerns.