Woman abuse is a common issue in family court cases, yet few legal professionals screen for it. As The Globe and Mail reports: About 67 per cent of domestic homicides in Ontario involved couples who had separated or were about…
Category: Legal news & strategy
Family Court Support Workers: Celebrating an effective response to violence against women
Workers in Ontario’s shelters for women and children fleeing abuse have been providing support to women involved with family court for decades. Occasionally funded through short-term grants, sometimes with resources provided by community fund-raising and often just tacked on to…
Remarks to the Standing Committee on Bill C-78
On November 22, 2018, Luke’s Place testified as a witness before the Standing Committee on Bill C-78, An Act to amend the Divorce Act. In collaboration with the National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL), Luke’s Place prepared a…
Changing Canada’s Divorce Act: Luke’s Place remarks on Bill C-78
The Bill C-78 hearing Luke’s Place and NAWL have submitted a Joint Brief on Bill C-78 and will testify as witnesses before the Standing Committee in Ottawa on Wednesday November 22 at 5:30. Our brief was endorsed by over 40 organizations,…
Professional development for family law lawyers: CPD accredited course on domestic violence
The Luke’s Place online course, “Effective Lawyering with Clients Leaving Abusive Relationships”, is CPD accredited for 1 hour 20 minutes Professionalism Hours and up to 1 hour 10 minutes Substantive Hours. To register and pay online, visit our sign up…
Family violence is relevant in family law processes
A new report published by the Department of Justice Canada describes what many of us already know about family violence and family law processes: In a family law context, violence, abuse and neglect within families can have wide ranging, long-term…
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The importance of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners
Our new report on family violence screening tools for lawyers and other family law practitioners is now available from the Department of Justice Canada. Family law lawyers are often the first point of contact for those entering the family justice…
Changes to the Family Law Rules
Changes to the Family Law Rules for Ontario came into effect on July 1, 2018. These include New confirmation forms for motions New confirmation forms for conferences Changes to the rules and timelines for service for conferences and motions These…
Divorce Act changes and violence against women
Listen to Pamela Cross, Luke’s Place Legal Director, discuss changes to the Divorce Act with host Julie Lalonde on CHUO 89.1FM today at 5PM. A recording of the interview will be available on the CHUO site. Read more about these…
The importance of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners
Since 2003, Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee consistently finds that a history of domestic violence and pending or recent separation are the first and second highest risk factors for lethality in domestic homicides. Yet there is no universal family…
