November 22, 2011
MLA Joan McIntyre: Family Law Act Good News For All

VICTORIA – Joan McIntyre, MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, and Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth, spoke in the B.C. Legislature last week in support of Bill 16: the Family Law Act, which will replace the Family Relations Act of 1978. 

Highlights:

“One of the key features for me is that it brings a new approach to the law, so that the court is not — and I repeat, not — the starting point; so that we take the adversarial nature that is so detrimental to family unions, we take it out of the process or at least minimize the impact. Most importantly, this new act is centred on children's best interests. When making decisions, in fact, it will be the sole consideration.”

“It increases the law's ability to deal with family violence and safety issues. This is a very serious issue that the Representative for Children and Youth, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, and our Select Standing Committee on Children and Youth have been wrestling with for many years — for some time, sad to say. This law will now identify children's safety as an overarching objective in ‘the best interests of the child’ test.”

“Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond terms it a big step on the family justice side. She adds that she is ‘going to work hard to try and see we get this implemented fully, because I think it will make a big difference for many children and families in British Columbia.’ I could not agree more.”

“I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to the many people who have contributed for years to such a much-needed, far-reaching revamping of our approach to family law in this province. I'm confident that these changes are in the right direction. They place the best interests of the child at the heart of the changes, and they recognize and support the changing nature of families today.”

For a full Hansard transcript of MLA McIntyre’s comments, please visit: http://www.leg.bc.ca/hansard/39th4th/h11117y.htm#34:1435

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