Ensuring all families have access to justice is a key component of the CBABC Agenda for Justice 2021. Based on input from members, CBABC lobbies the government for several recommended reforms in the area of family law.

A SUSTAINABLE MODEL FOR LEGAL AID

CBABC calls on the BC Government to fund a legal aid system that:

• Expands financial eligibility for all services;
• Expands the scope of coverage for family, criminal, immigration, and poverty law services;
• Establishes a compensation system that allows for legal representation in both court
  and out-of-court resolution systems; and
• Provides a fair compensation to legal aid lawyers.

We also advocate that legal aid be established as an essential service and all PST revenue collected annually on legal fees be directed to fund legal aid, as that was the rationale for the tax when it was introduced.

EXPANDED SCOPE FOR FAMILY LAW SERVICES

CBABC recommends that the BC Government make critical investments to support families who need legal aid services:

• Expanding the scope of representation on
  issues of divorce, guardianship and parenting arrangements, child and spousal support, and asset/debt division.
• Increasing use of technology to access legal advice and representation as well as courts
  and out-of-court resolution services.

UNIFIED FAMILY COURT

CBABC advocates that a Unified Family Court system be developed for British Columbia, as has been suggested by various studies such as the Family Justice Reform Working Group 2005 report, produced as part of the BC Justice Review Task Force. In a recent ThoughtExchange of family law lawyers, this issue was ranked as the most important.

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM

Finally, CBABC recommends that the BC Government prioritize a review and transformation of the child protection system to modernize the system, its policies, programs, funding, and legislation, so that the rights of children will be protected and changes to their circumstances are completed in a timely manner. Children and families engaged in the system must be able to make informed decisions and have legal representation, with affected low-income families having access to legal aid.

CBABC Action — What we are doing

The CBABC Family Law Working Group has a mandate to monitor developments in the law and the practice of family law, prepare submissions to reform family law, and provide recommendations to the Policy & Advocacy Committee. These volunteers were very busy last year, providing a submission to BCLI for the review of pension division legislation, as well as a formal response to the BCLI consultation paper on modernizing the Child, Family and Community Service Act.

The recent recovery of unmarked graves of children at former residential schools in BC reminds us of the significant number of Indigenous children who continue to be removed and displaced from families today. This fall, the working group prepared a written submission to the government, which will be available to read soon, on ways to improve the child protection system.