The Ministry of the Attorney General has announced eight new Unified Family Court (UFC) locations that went into operation on May 13, 2019. These locations are: Belleville Cayuga Kitchener Pembroke Picton Simcoe St. Thomas Twelve judges have been onboarded to…
The King Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto is not a usual hangout for violence against women types. Nonetheless, on April 17th, Luke’s Place Executive Director, Carol Barkwell and I, along with four of the founding sisters of Luke’s Place got…
Luke’s Place Legal Director, Pamela Cross, is featured in two articles this week. The murder of Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji by her husband two days after she filed for divorce “is a text-book case of what we already know. This is…
As of April 1st, 2019, the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) has implemented increases to some of the fees payable in a family court case. Most, but not all, of these fees are related to divorce applications. MAG has…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
