In the recent case of S.S.C.M v. A.C.W., 2024 BCSC 1694, Mr. Justice Morley refused to recognize a Texas court’s order that the children reside in Texas (rather than their current home of B.C.) on the basis, in part, that: The Texas Order principally at issue here was made without hearing the Children’s views. Having […]
Do you want to help make the BC family justice system work better for families and children? Family Justice Innovation Lab Society (FJIL), a BC registered society, is seeking people who are excited about this goal to join its Board of Directors. We are committed to advancing access to justice for families, children and young […]
Exciting news from the Family Justice Innovation Lab Society! FJIL (through its Youth Voices initiative) and the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative have jointly received funding from the Representative for Children and Youth to create the Youth Participation Expansion Project. We are looking for a part-time contract Project Coordinator to work with us to […]
BC’s Access to Justice Week begins on February 4th! This is a great opportunity to find out more about A2J and initiatives across the province and country. Click here for a list and description of the many interesting events planned for this year. Thank you for your support for Access to Justice in BC! BC […]
The Youth Voices Initiative partnered with Adler University to provide a 3-hour online workshop on April 1, 2022. The workshop was generously funded by the Notary Foundation. It focused on providing Adler students (future counsellors and therapists) with insight into the impact of separation and divorce on children and youth and the importance of meaningful […]
This March, the members of the Youth Voices Leadership Group are participating in a two-part virtual event hosted by Access to Justice BC and the Representative for Children and Youth of BC. The Child & Youth Champions event is part of the multi-sector Transform the Family Justice System (TFJS) Collaborative that is focusing on achieving […]
This is Part 2 of a two-part piece focusing on how family lawyers and mediators can participate in and support the Youth Voices Initiative. Originally published on Slaw.ca, Canada’s Online Legal Magazine and republished with permission. In Part 1, I described the foundations of the Youth Voices Initiative, overseen by the BC Family Justice Innovation Lab, which […]
This is Part 1 of a two-part piece focusing on how family lawyers and mediators can participate in and support the Youth Voices Initiative. It was originally published in September 2020 on Slaw.ca, Canada’s Online Legal Magazine and republished with permission. It has been 10 years since Brené Brown published her book The Gifts of Imperfection. […]
It has been a few months since our last update on the Youth Voices Initiative (March 7). The world has changed in fundamental ways since then! But we have been continuing our work and we’d like to describe some of the highlights so far and provide a peek into the exciting things coming next!! The […]
Two years ago I published a piece on slaw.ca entitled Seeing (And Feeling) the Family Justice System Through the Eyes of the Therapy Dog about Ollie the therapy dog who visited the Kamloops courthouse on “family remand day”. One comment on that post really stuck in my mind. It was from a family lawyer who […]