In “a case about everything the parties did wrong to achieve a particular goal,” Ontario court illustrates the differences between guardianship and parentage

Jacobs v Blair, 2022 ONSC 3159, was a case involving a dispute between two couples over the parentage and guardianship (which consists of, in the words of Ontario’s legislation, “decision-making responsibility, parenting time, contact and guardianship with respect to children”) of a young child. The case illustrates some fundamental differences between parentage and guardianship of children in Canadian family law. While parentage of children conceived by sexual intercourse is (in the lion’s share of cases) Read more…

Parentage committee starts discussion on surrogacy and independent legal advice

This month, the Parentage Law Reform Project Committee focused on two issues: surrogacy and independent legal advice. Should conception by sexual intercourse be permitted for traditional surrogacy? Section 29 of the Family Law Act governs surrogacy. Surrogacy is when a person carries a child for someone else. There are two kinds of surrogacy. The first is ‘traditional’ surrogacy. In this case, the surrogate carries the child, but also donates an egg (i.e., is genetically related Read more…

Parentage committee finishes discussion of donors and parentage

This month, the Parentage Law Reform Project Committee focused on donors and parentage. The Committee started this topic in the June meeting.  Section 24: Should there be more flexibility around donors and parentage? Section 24 of the Family Law Act states that a donor is not automatically a parent by reason only of donation. Should the line between (non-parent) donor and parent be more flexible? Should donors and parents be able to draft pre-conception contracts Read more…

BC Ministry of Attorney General seeking comments on reform of property division and spousal support under the Family Law Act

As part of an ongoing project to review and update the Family Law Act, the Ministry of Attorney General for BC has published a discussion paper on property division (part 5 of the act) and spousal support (part 7, division 4). The Family Law Act Modernization project webpage contains links to a survey, backgrounder, and full technical discussion paper. As the discussion paper explains, the advent of the Family Law Act in 2013 introduced a new approach to property division. Read more…

Abuse and Neglect in Institutional Settings: Strengthening Infrastructural Criminal Law Reform

Proposed federal legislation is pursuing criminal law reform to address the abuse and neglect of older adults within long-term care.[1]  A recently introduced private bill, Bill C-295, would amend section 215 of the Criminal Code to specifically criminalize owners and managers of long-term care homes who fail to provide the “necessaries of life” to people living in their facilities. [2] However, changing the law requires wider infrastructural criminal law reform to be impactful. The Canadian Read more…