Improve family justice | Justice Development Goals

4.1 Offer a broad range of services

Make family law services easier to find, including triage, early intervention, integrated and collaborative processes, parenting and financial services

4.2 Promote consensual resolution

Develop and expand proactive management of family issues and more consensual approaches and services, maintaining a focus on safety

4.3 Innovate

Educate people about less adversarial approaches and experiment with new services and processes to create opportunities for consensus resolution

4.4 Restructure family courts

Locate all of the aspects of family law in the same place, including separation, custody and access, and divorce, ideally under one judge

Progress in 2019

Family law continues to be a major focus of access to justice efforts in Canada. The majority of self-represented litigants in Canadian courts are dealing with the legal aspects of separation and divorce, or are managing the ongoing custody and financial arrangements between parents.

Legal clinics and public legal information services have long focused on helping people understand the processes, forms and options in family disputes. Family courts, lawyers and mediators continue to provide direct legal services while alternative approaches work to reduce conflicts or avoid legal disputes altogether.

In 2019, the focus in family justice was on increasing the remote, in-person and online tools available to litigants, using legislation and policy to increase the potential for early resolution and to give strength to enforcement efforts, and affirming the justice sector’s commitment to the best interests of the child.