Submission to BC Supreme Court Civil and Family Rules Committee: Access to Family Law Files

On December 9, CBABC delivered a submission to the BC Supreme Court Civil and Family Rules Committee responding to their consultation paper on access to family law files under Supreme Court Family Rule 22-8. Our response outlines the options we considered and makes recommendations.  

CBABC considers that Rule 22-8 requires no reform. The current approach to permit parties, lawyers and people authorized in writing by a party or a party’s lawyer to access a family law file from the court registry strikes an appropriate balance. It supports both the need to protect children’s privacy and other sensitive information and the need to preserve the open court principle. 

Instead of making blanket reforms that may have unintended consequences, we recommend addressing specific problems as they arise. Based on the information available, we suggest the following: 

• Expand BC Supreme Court Family Rules on confidentiality of information and make use of sanctions under B.C.’s Family Law Act 

• Create a tracking system to record information about individuals seeking access to files 

• Require those seeking access to files to sign a confidentiality undertaking 

• Develop a “B File” system containing restricted documents accessible only to the parties and their lawyers 

Led by our Family Law Committee, this submission also draws from the expertise of members of CBABC's Family Law, Children’s Law, Health Law and Freedom of Information and Privacy Law Sections. 

Questions? Email us at advocacy@cbabc.org