In a recent news release, The Advocates’ Society (TAS), an organization representing more than 5,000 Canadian lawyers and law students, once again called for there to be an expansion of United Family Courts (UFCs) across the country.
The current “two-tiered” setup that currently exists in most parts of Canada is causing a “crisis” situation for family courts, states TAS.
“One part of the problem is that in many areas of Canada, two different courts can deal with family law issues,” which “creates confusion, inefficiencies, and greater costs.” Under this system, many families “cannot access the courts in a timely manner, which can leave families and children in difficult — and sometimes dangerous — situations.”
Last month, TAS released a report detailing the problem: divorce claims and issues of property division are handled by superior courts, which fall under federal jurisdiction, while child protection issues are dealt with by provincial courts, which fall under provincial jurisdiction.
There is overlap between the courts when it comes to child support, spousal support and parenting, but TAS maintains that this simply adds to the confusion felt by litigants.
“In other words, some families must navigate multiple courts to resolve their legal issues, leading to confusion, duplication, inefficiency, delays, and greater costs.”
According to the report, there are 57 UFCs across Canada. Only three provinces — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. — have “fully unified their family courts.” Conversely, three other provinces — B.C., Alberta and Quebec — have no UFCs whatsoever.
The remaining provinces — Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland — have “partially implemented UFCs in certain geographic areas.”
TAS maintains that UFCs provide a “one-stop shop” for litigants, as well as judges who specialize in family law issues, court procedures that fit a family’s needs and better access to case management, early intervention and “non-adversarial dispute resolution.”
Ira Marcovitch, Victor Vallance Blais
“I’m hopeful that providing a singular access point to the family law justice system will become a priority for both levels of government,” said Marcovitch, an associate with Victor Vallance Blais.
Like the report, Marcovitch spoke of the advantage of having judges sitting at UFCs that specialize in family law.
“Family law is a beast unlike any other, and when you’re in the [UFC], chances are you’re going to end up in front of a judge who was a family law practitioner and who presides fairly exclusively over family law cases,” he said. “Of course, the benefits of that is you have that wisdom and that experience, whereas, in the Superior Court, they are all generalist judges, and very often, there’s a good chance you’ll end up with a judge whose entire background is in criminal law or in employment law.”
He spoke of jurisdictions lacking UFCs, and how “disheartening” it must be for clients who end up before a judge who admits to lacking experience in family law.
“Again, in family law, the litigants are litigating their personal lives — it’s not business; it’s not [any other area of law] — and I can only imagine that it is hard for them to hear that.”
Family Lawyers Association chair Lisa Johnson said in an email that her organization “supports the expansion of the UFC throughout … Ontario,” but provided no comment beyond that.
The call for more UFCs is nothing new. Last year, retired Ontario judge Frances Kiteley reportedly called for consolidated family courts. Long before this, veteran family court Justice George Czutrin, who served on the UFC in Hamilton before moving to the bench in Toronto, had long been calling for more UFCs in the name of better access to justice for families.
When asked for comment, a federal government spokesperson said Ottawa “is committed to improving access to justice for everyone in Canada and supports initiatives aimed at enhancing access to justice.”
“The family justice system should be accessible to all Canadians and easy to navigate even during difficult times,” they said in an email. “That is why the Government of Canada continues to support a Unified Family Court system, in collaboration with participating provinces.”
A request for comment from Ontario's government was not met by press time.
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