Law Commission of Ontario Project on Family Law Dispute Resolution

The Law Commission of Ontario has launched a project to research and improve family law dispute resolution.

The project is called "Best Practices at Family Justice System Entry Points: Needs of Users and Responses of Workers in the Justice System":

"This project is based on the premise that threshold issue are usually the most important ones to get 'right'. In this context, this means that if people are able to identify their needs at an early stage, not only legal needs, but also needs related to their (often overlapping) societal characteristics (for example, being a woman, a recent immigrant, Aboriginal or of low income), the system will be able to offer more effective ways of resolving their disputes that are responsive to their particular needs. The family law project will therefore study users’ needs and workers’ responses at various entry points into the family justice system in order to develop a report on 'best practices'. Entry points include but are not restricted to lawyers’ offices, legal aid offices, community legal clinics, community centres, schools, police stations, hospitals, health clinics and courts."

The project will be completed by November 2010.