Quick facts about the Modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act Project

Project overview term: 1 September 2018 to 31 May 2021 14 project committee members total over project term 19 project committee meetings 39 recommendations for reform Publications one final report one study paper one consultation paper 7 backgrounders 2 media releases 31 blog posts (25 during project term) Public engagement 48 consultation responses 47 written submissions one consultation meeting 1486 pageviews of project webpage during term 232 downloads of project documents 9 downloads of the report Read more…

BCLI & CCEL Issue Study Paper On Health Care Consent and Capacity Assessment Tribunals

BCLI and CCEL have released the Study Paper on Health Care Consent and Capacity Assessment Tribunals, which examines informal tribunals operating in Canada and Australia that review findings of mental incapacity to consent to health care or admission to a care facility and resolve disputes about substitute decision-making in health care. The study paper follows a recommendation made in the earlier CCEL Report Conversations About Care calling for robust research into non-court mechanisms for providing Read more…

The House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee Examines Elder Abuse

Introduction The House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (“JUST”) reports on and reviews different policies, programs, and other plans for the House of Commons. The committee has completed a wide range of work, including examining the impact of COVID-19 on the judicial system and considering how the pandemic has increased intimate partner violence. Much of the committee’s work concerns criminal law reform. Currently, the committee is conducting a Study of Elder Read more…

BCLI Reflects on the Protection of Indigenous Children

BCLI Executive Director And Emily Clough, Chair, BCLI Board   The BCLI has been reflecting on the news last week that the remains of 215 children were found at the Kamloops Indian Residential School, on the lands of the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation. The laws of British Columbia and Canada allowed for the creation of residential schools that separated children from their families. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996. Six years Read more…

A closer look at the Report on Pension Division: Locked-in retirement accounts and life income funds

This post is part of a series highlighting key recommendations in the Report on Pension Division: A Review of Part 6 of the Family Law Act. For other posts in the series click here. Brief description of the issue Since the advent of the Family Law Act, case law has consistently held that locked-in retirement accounts and life income funds should be divided under part 5 of the act. Should the act be amended to change this Read more…