“When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” – Yogi Berra

In February 2006, the Ministry of Attorney General announced a wholesale review of the Family Relations Act. The first year was devoted to research. This year has been set aside for consultation. Your Branch has been in the forefront of that effort, working to inject the perspective both of lawyers and of the clients we represent.

Fourteen discussion papers have been released, in three phases. The first was largely concerned with property. Phase Two tackled definitions of custody and guardianship, access enforcement, views of children, and family violence. Phase Three addressed support and relocation issues, definitions, and limitations. All are available at www.ag.gov.bc.ca/legislation.

Family Law Sections across British Columbia have heard submissions and made representations on Phase One. They will remain involved in the process. In addition, an FRA Review Working Group was struck to make submissions on behalf of the Branch. Phase One submissions were completed on June 15th. Phase Two submissions were just completed September 7th. The submissions for Phase Three are due on December 15th.

Despite the unfortunate timing of Phase Two, during the summer your Working Group members have made extensive submissions on both statutory and procedural reform. They also conducted a survey, distributed through the CBABC e-mail and website facilities, to gain wider feedback from our membership. Survey highlights are published on the CBA website under Publications at: www.cba.org/bc/cba_publications/surveys/default.aspx. The survey has proved an invaluable resource.

Some of the recommendations of the Working Group include:

• moving away from “custody” toward “parenting responsibilities”;
• increasing the emphasis on, and resources for, input from children;
• providing specific remedies for access enforcement;
• promoting an effective and balanced approach to family violence;
• procedural reforms for resolving disputes as quickly and efficiently as our present resources will allow; and
• emphasizing the crucial role of courts, lawyers, duty counsel and collaborative practice.

This has been an exciting time for law reform. New paths are opening before us almost every day. The CBABC is committed not only to helping government choose the right ones, but to participate in blazing those trails on behalf of our members, the profession, and the public.

This article was published in the October 2007 issue of BarTalk. © 2007 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.