In the final dash to get legislation passed before Parliament recessed for the summer, only to head straight into an election campaign in the fall, some important bills managed to make it to Royal Assent. Any bills that did not…
Month: June 2019
Case law: Arbitration
Horowitz v. Nightingale 2017 ONSC 2168: This motion was brought by the husband for an order staying the family law proceeding between him and his wife. The parties were married for 16 years prior to their separation. They had three children. …
Tagged with: arbitration
After decades of waiting, women’s rights groups celebrate changes to the Divorce Act
Ottawa, June 19, 2019—After decades of advocacy by women’s rights groups pressing for much needed changes to the Divorce Act, including by a coalition led by the National Association for Women and the Law (NAWL) and Luke’s Place, and the…
C-78: Update on amendments to the Divorce Act
Bill C-78, which passed Third Reading in the Senate on Wednesday, contains significant changes to the Divorce Act and may soon become law. The full name of C-78 is An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and…
How does the Family Responsibility Office work? For women’s advocates
The Family Responsibility Office (FRO) is a program of the Ministry of Community and Social Services that collects and distributes court-ordered child and spousal support payments. If the person paying support fails to do so, FRO can enforce the court…
Legal Support Worker/Family Court Support Worker
Luke’s Place is seeking a full time, experienced (minimum 3 years), Legal Support Worker/Family Court Support Worker to provide professional delivery of its innovative programs and services to women who have been subjected to intimate partner abuse. Luke’s Place is…
Mediation: You can’t always get what you want
“But if you try sometime you find/You get what you need.” Many women leaving abusive relationships would take exception to even the modest optimism expressed by the Rolling Stones in this 1969 hit. Nonetheless, this is very much the tone…
810 Reasons to Support Luke’s Place
This June every donation to Luke’s Place increases our chances to win $10,000 through the Great Canadian Giving Challenge. The more often you give, the more chances we have. We can give you 810 reasons to donate to Luke’s Place.…
Laura Legge Award Speech: Honouring women subjected to violence
On May 22, 2019, our Legal Director, Pamela Cross, was presented with the Laura Legge Award by the Law Society of Ontario. The following is her award speech, in print and audio. I am deeply honoured to be receiving this…
Case law: Maher
Bakhshi v. Hosseinzadeh 2017 ONCA 838: The parties in this case were married in Iran in 1995, at which time they entered into a Maher, which is an Islamic marriage contract. They emigrated to Canada and then separated in 2013. The…