Because of you: Two years of calling for action

On the Friday of a long weekend, more than 70 individuals gathered in Barry’s Bay, ON. Together, they recognized the second anniversary of the Culleton, Kuzyk and Warmerdam (CKW) inquest. About the gathering We joined Lanark County Interval House and EVA Renfrew County in hosting a community gathering on Friday June 28, 2024. This gathering…

Read more

Tips for building a new and safe co-parenting relationship

Abuse does not always end because a relationship does. If you have children with your ex-partner, you will need to build a new co-parenting relationship. It is important that this new relationship takes into account your safety. This can be challenging for many reasons. Here are tips for building a new, and safe, co-parenting relationship…

Read more

Case comment: Relocation to the United Arab Emirates

F. v. N. 2022 SCC 51 The mother and father lived in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) for nearly a decade with their two children, who are under the age of 5. Neither parent is a citizen of the UAE but the father has a residency permit which allowed him to sponsor the…

Read more

An update on criminalizing coercive control

At Luke’s Place, we support women and their children who have left abuse and are engaged with the family law/court process through both direct service and system change work. Through this work, we have developed a deep understanding of the many ways different legal systems intersect with and affect women’s family law experiences. We have…

Read more

Case summary: Abraham v. Gallo 2022 ONCA 874

This is an interesting decision where the mother in this case sought a declaration that a foreign divorce was not valid in order to proceed with a claim for spousal support under the Divorce Act. The father argued that the divorce was valid and sought to dismiss the mother’s claim for spousal support due to…

Read more

Case comment: Coercive control & family violence

hands on a book

Case summary prepared by Luke’s Place Advocacy Director, Pamela Cross In this case (F.S. v. M.B.T. 2023 ONCJ 102), Justice Sherr carefully analyzes the context of family violence, including coercive control, when making a decision related to parenting arrangements for a 12-year-old child. The case also involves a claim for spousal support by the mother,…

Read more

Parental alienation, family violence and family law: Part one

Woman looks out window

The terms parental alienation syndrome (PAS) and its more recent iteration, parental alienation (PA), have been creating challenges in family law cases involving parenting claims since at least the 1990s. Initially proposed by American psychologist Richard Gardner, PAS was his response to what he claimed were false allegations of child sexual abuse brought by mothers…

Read more

Seeing, Naming and Changing Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Communities

March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day to both celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment and to call for action towards greater gender equality. This International Women’s Day, we are focusing on supporting women in rural and remote communities. Between 20-30% of Canada’s population lives in rural areas, yet…

Read more

Legal information sessions

We offer opportunities for Ontario women to learn about family law. These sessions are currently provided by video conference. Our workshops are free and confidential. Early information session Our early information session is a two-hour session. This session is for women who are in the early stages of their family law process dealing with violence…

Read more