Legal news & strategy

Updates on family court services in Ontario for women needing family law supports during COVID-19

There are many reasons women leaving abuse don’t have a lawyer, but none of those reasons is choice, which is implied by the term “self-represented.”

There is much that is good in Bill 207, the Moving Ontario Family Law Forward Act, for women leaving abusive relationships.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Bill 207, the Moving Ontario Family Law Forward Act, received Royal Assent on November 20th. Likely to come into effect in conjunction with the revised Divorce Act on March 31, 2021, these changes to how courts will make parenting arrangement decisions offer new hope for women with children who are fleeing abuse.…

Prepared by Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre for the Feminist Law and Policy Reform Coalition, endorsed by over 30 Ontario organizations, this is a response to the FLSP Call for Comment. We support the three guiding principles informing the development of the Law Society of Ontario‘s consultation paper: access to justice, public protection and…

Journalist Jane Gerster interviewed Luke’s Place and other women’s advocates/services about Bill 207 and its impact on women, as well as the importance of programs like the Family Court Support Worker Program in supporting women through the complex family law system. Advocates such as Pamela Cross, legal director at Luke’s Place, an Oshawa-based family-law support…

As part of CTV’s W5 episode Unrestrained, host Avery Haines interviewed Luke’s Place Legal Director, Pamela Cross. Unrestrained aired at 7:00pm EST on November 14, 2020. Pamela spoke about the complex family law system and described how restraining orders don’t do enough to protect women in abusive relationships. Lawyer and advocate Pamela Cross says,“a woman…

Updated endorsements – Brief by Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre, Durham Region, OntarioPresented by Pamela Cross, October 5, 2020 This brief responds to Bill 207: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act, the Courts of Justice Act, the Family Law Act and other Acts respecting various family law matters. It expands on…

Ontario’s Family Court Support Worker Program provides invaluable supports to increasing numbers of domestic violence survivors who are involved in the family court process. It has done so with no funding enhancement since its inception in 2011. The following are speaking notes from a presentation to Honourable Rod Phillips, Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, MPP Lorne Coe…

Presented by Pamela Cross, Luke’s Place Legal Director on October 13, 2020, 1:00 p.m. Good afternoon. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to talk about Bill 207. I do so on behalf of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, where I am the Legal Director. We are named after…

Supporting women to access family law supports during COVID-19

Self-represented or unrepresented?

Bill 207: An important step forward for women fleeing abuse

New custody and access legislation increases safety for women and children fleeing abuse

Comments on the Law Society of Ontario’s Family Legal Services Provider Licence Consultation Paper

TVO article: ‘Vagueness is a gift to an abuser’: What the Tories got right — and wrong — on Bill 207

CTV’s W5 article: ‘Why does he keep abusing?’ Changing the question about intimate partner violence

Brief on Bill 207: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act, the Courts of Justice Act, the Family Law Act and other Acts respecting various family law matters

Ontario’s Fall 2020 Budget Consultation Submission: Family Court Support Worker Program

Bill 207 Justice Committee Hearing: Luke’s Place Submission