Modern love is a strange experience. Love used to involve sharing milkshakes at the local diner, bringing flowers on a first date, and defining when we were going steady. But now, the internet has introduced new social patterns for us to navigate. From trying to figure out why people keep texting me the eggplant emoji, to wondering why people keep complimenting my peach emoji, the world of...
Indigenous children are starkly overrepresented in Ontario’s child welfare system: there are 7 times as many children in care as their proportion of the population.[1] The same problem existed in the 1980’s when the Supreme Court of Canada articulated the “best interests of the child” test in a de facto adoption case involving an Indigenous child.[2] In Racine v Woods, the court ruled that when...
Kids are expensive. At least, that’s what my parents have told me. Even if you don’t raise a child with expensive taste, the basics start to add up for families. Whether it’s food, shelter, extracurricular activities, or medical expenses, children are a significant financial commitment for their parents. It becomes even more complicated when separation and divorce are thrown into the mix. (I...
As the Canadian population continues to age, our country is confronting a myriad of legal and health care issues, including the alarming phenomenon of predatory marriages. A predatory marriage often describes a situation where a younger person takes advantage of an elderly or vulnerable person for their finances. Advocates note that our elderly population has acquired massive wealth, largely from...
The commitment to include paralegals is a response to a report from former Ontario court Chief Justice Annemarie Bonkalo. Significantly, the report noted that 57% of Ontarians did not have legal representation in family law matters. This statistic should be shocking, but anyone who has paid limited attention to the world of family law should not be surprised. Many people cannot afford a lawyer...
(Author’s note: “This article was written before Justice Perell’s ruling on November 1, 2017 dismissing the certification motion. The decision can be accessed here“) In 2009, Tamara Broomfield was criminally convicted for a drug-related offence. This conviction was partially due to hair-strand testing conducted by the Motherisk Drug Testing Lab at the Hospital for Sick...
Are you interested in learning about family law matters without having to take a whole course on it? Want to avoid reading lengthy cases and just get to the basics of a concept? Are you not married, living with someone, and want to know if they are considered your spouse for legal purposes? I present to you a Family Law Factoid as it pertains to your love life. While it may not be the most...
By: Lily MacLeod on behalf of the Osgoode Hall Family Law Association Canada’s Economic and Social Context In Canada, 1 in 6 adults live with a disability. Compared to their able-bodied counterparts, adults with a disability are more likely to lack a post-secondary education, be unemployed, and live in poverty. The overall Canadian poverty rate is approximately 10%. However, over 14% of those...