BCIFV home > Media Release > May 7, 2003

For Immediate Release: May 7, 2003
Contact: Penny Bain, Executive Director, BCIFV
phone: 604.669.7055, 1.877.755.7055, or
pbain@bcifv.org or www.bcifv.org

Media Release:
Family Violence Institute Responds to Bill C-22.

Proposed legislation to replace Divorce Act "Good start but doesn't go far enough"

Bill C-22, which would amend the federal Divorce Act, is a good piece of legislation because it addresses family violence but it does not go far enough to protect the safety of non-abusive parents and their children trying to leave violent relationships. The need to increase safety for the family is the primary objective of the BC Institute Against Family Violence's newly released position paper and letter sent to Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which began its hearings this week.

"During the past two decades in Canada, although rates of spousal homicide have decreased, the number of children killed by family members has increased by over 10 percent [according to Statistics Canada, 2000]," writes George Tien, Vice Chair of the Institute's Board of Directors. "The Institute's 1994 research by Mary Cooper, Wasted Lives: The Tragedy of Homicide in the Family, found that the most common precipitating event is that the children's mother left the perpetrator."

The position paper has been a work in progress since 1998, when the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access released its report on the current Divorce Act, called For the Sake of the Children.

"If amendments are truly to be in the best interests of the children, they must look beyond the relatively amicable way in which 75 percent of Canadian couples separate and determine custody and access, and also account for the needs and interests of the 25 percent of separating and divorcing families in which violence is a factor," says Penny Bain, Executive Director of the BCIFV.

"The best way to do that is to look at other jurisdictions to see what legislation they have in place and how well it is - or isn't - working toward ensuring that the best interests of the children are always paramount."

In compiling this position paper, the Institute closely examined legislation and research across Canada and the US, in the United Kingdom, and in Australia and New Zealand. Bill C-22 does direct judges to consider family violence, but there are some areas that still leave family members potentially vulnerable. The Institute's final list of 15 recommendations for amendments to the proposed bill is drawn from that exhaustive research, and includes:

• a broadened definition of family violence that would account for psychological violence, which research shows can be as damaging as physical violence;
• a statement that the safety of the child and the non-abusive parent is the paramount concern in allocating parenting time;
• a provision specifying the risk factors for future violence that the judge should take into consideration and the circumstances in which shared parenting time is not appropriate.

"Bill C-22 is an important piece of legislation and it is vital that we get it right," says Bain. "The well-being of countless Canadian children depends on it."

For more information, contact Penny Bain, Executive Director of the BC Institute Against Family Violence at 669-7055
or 1 877-755-7055, pbain@bcifv.org or www.bcifv.org.

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