Submitted by: Erin L. Brook
Summary of Activities
Number of Meetings Held: 3
November 23, 2011
Family Law Act status reviewed, discussion of two sections passed as of November 24, 2011 discussion of New Child Support Guidelines in force December 2011, Review of Chair's discussions with the Administrative Judge regarding moving the location of Family Remand Court. Members were encouraged to share their concerns with the Annex/Monday provincial court remand issues discussed and relayed to Chair for discussion with Administrative Judge. This meeting was 1.25 hours towards CPD
March 21, 2012
Guest Speakers: Deborah Blake, Jan Fontaine from the Justice Access Centre
The Justice Access Centre Staff presented on their role in the family court system and the lawyers were able to discuss issues regarding Rule 5 and mediations with the staff directly. We learned more about the services offered at the JAC and the sort of information our clients are getting when they attend for mandatory Rule 5 mediation meeting with Family Justice Counsellors. This meeting was 1.25 hours towards CPD.
June 27, 2012
Guset Speaker: Carmen Barclay on Parental Alienation
Carmen Barclay came to present on Parental Alienation. This was a very informative meeting handouts were provided and a video was shown to help illustrate the issue of parental alienation and it's possible recognition in the DSM and hopefully greater understanding of the impact on children when we look at best interests of the children in a court context. this meeting was 1.5 of CPD credits.
Reports and Resolutions
There has been a significant issue with our Section's budget. As we are not able to pay speakers it is difficult to have them come out. Low member enrollment and turnout is also problematic. We have reduced our meetings to every three months on account of not being able to attract members because we cannot afford to retain speakers to present. We have plans to hold meetings in the evenings going into the next term in an attempt to attract members from other family law areas such as Campbell River. We are also working with the Victoria Chair to hopefully put together a joint presentation around the Family Law Act.
Comments and Observations of the Chair
The presenters that we do have come to our meetings are educated in their field and offer a significant contribution to the edification of our members. It is sad to see a low turn out to our meetings where we have guests attend who are volunteering their time to share their knowledge with our group. We hope that working with other county family law sections we can increase the turnout to the events and hopefully we will obtain a larger budget for retaining speakers to encourage our members to come to more meetings so that the involvement will warrant more frequent meetings.