Scottish Law Commission Discussion Paper on Civil Remedies for Domestic Abuse

The Scottish Law Commission has released a discussion paper on Civil Remedies for Domestic Abuse. It is part of a consultation process that ends in January 2025:

Many problems have been identified with current legislation on the issue:

• It is unclear how or if the law in this area interacts with criminal and child law.
• The legislation relating to the civil protection orders that can be sought in domestic abuse cases is fragmented, and the options are complicated.
• There are multiple different protective remedies available, all contained in different statutes and with different threshold tests (and there are concerns that some of the statutory tests are too high, for example for exclusion orders and powers of arrest).
• Even once a victim/survivor secures a civil protection order, there can be issues about enforcement.
• There is insufficient recognition of the impact of domestic abuse on children in the civil protection legislation.

The Discussion Paper explores many of the criticisms and considers possible changes.

It also looks at the law of civil remedies for domestic abuse in other jurisdictions, including Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Ireland, and New Zealand.

Recent Justice Canada Publications from the Government of Canada Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week. 

Some of the documents in the most recent list include the following material from Justice Canada:

• Justice in Official Languages - Newsletter (Summer 2024): "The year 2024 is in the midst of a transitional period for official languages in Canada. Since the new Action Plan for Official Languages was unveiled on April 26, 2023, and the Act to Amend the Official Languages Act (OLA) was given Royal Assent on June 20, 2023, the justice in Official Languages sector has had to adapt and innovate more than ever. We hope this issue of the Newsletter will shed some light on this period of change and help you discover the sector trends driving our work. We would also like to recognize the efforts of all of those who are working so hard to make access to justice more equitable for members of official language minority communities (OLMCs). Their efforts are not going unnoticed. This issue begins with an article summarizing the new priorities of the Access to Justice in Both Official Languages Support Fund (Support Fund) for the five-year period from 2023 to 2028. In particular, you will learn about the new investment priorities, which focus on two main areas: supporting OLMCs and supporting the justice system. These priorities are designed to meet the needs identified by OLMCs and other justice sector stakeholders."
• Developing an Indigenous Justice Strategy: A compilation of thought papers by Indigenous legal experts: "In 2021, Justice Canada received funding to support First Nations-, Inuit- and Métis-led engagements (2022– 2024) to gain insight from communities and organizations on how to address systemic barriers in the criminal justice system. In addition, Justice Canada led a series of distinctions-based and regional engagement sessions (2022–2023) to identify concrete actions that could be undertaken in the areas of crime prevention, policing and diversion, courts, corrections, and reintegration (...) In addition to supporting community engagements, Justice Canada commissioned a series of thought papers written by Indigenous legal experts, to help identify what an Indigenous Justice Strategy in Canada could and should include. The authors were asked to provide aspirational visions for the future—a path forward, using strength-based approaches to complement and expand previous work by researchers, inquiries, and commissions that have documented challenges and problems with the justice system. The purpose of these papers was to help facilitate a decolonizing approach to informing an Indigenous Justice Strategy, by providing a space for diverse Indigenous perspectives that respects Indigenous values, philosophies and knowledge."
• Out-of-court dispute resolution for families experiencing separation or divorce in Canada: "In the area of family justice, using the courts to resolve disputes upon separation or divorce for such issues as each parent’s decision-making responsibilities and time with their children, child and spousal support and division of property has proven to be expensive, lengthy and difficult for the parties. As such, governments have long tried to encourage the use of mediation or conciliation – dispute resolution outside of the courts – to resolve issues (...) In 2023 the Department of Justice Canada contracted with Catherine Tait Consulting to research government-funded out-of-court dispute resolution services provided in Canada that assist families experiencing separation and divorce (...) This report outlines the research findings. The two next sections describe the research scope and methodology. This is followed by a summary of the commonalities and differences among programs, focussing on the programs’ scope, service delivery model, response to and impacts of the pandemic, other recent changes impacting the programs and their service volumes, success indicators and data collection. "

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. 

It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Some of the documents in the most recent list include:

• How to identify misinformation, disinformation and malinformation (Canadian Centre for Cybersecurity)
• Child Support Practices in Canada: Results from the 2022 National Family Law Surveys (Justice Canada)
• Hate Crimes and Incidents in Canada (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
• Canada’s 2030 Nature Strategy:  Halting and Reversing Biodiversity Loss in Canada (Environment and Climate Change Canada)

Nova Scotia Law Reform Report on Parentage in the Context of Surrogacy and Sperm, Egg and Embryo Donation

The Access to Justice & Law Reform Institute of Nova Scotia has published its final report on Extending Legal Parentage in the Context of Surrogacy, and Sperm, Egg, and Embryo Donation.

From the Executive Summary:

"This Final Report makes recommendations on how Nova Scotian law should identify a child’s parents when the child is conceived via assisted reproduction (sperm, egg and embryo donation and/or surrogacy). This status is known as legal parentage. While subject to change through formal legal processes such as adoption, for most people legal parentage is an automatic and immutable status upon which their identity is built. For children, parentage legally situates them in the world. Rights based on kinship, such as inheritance, also flow via parentage. For parents, legal parentage provides the immediate presumptive status from which they are given standing to provide the parenting, care and support of children."

"In light of this foundational role, it is vital for legal parentage to reflect the social landscape within which Nova Scotians live, and the various ways families are created. It is also critical that parentage laws be accessible, understandable, and non-discriminatory. This need is most immediate in the context of surrogacy and assisted reproduction. Nova Scotia’s current approach to these families may give rise to discrimination under both the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act."

"Nova Scotia is the only jurisdiction in Canada that lacks parentage legislation. At present, our parentage laws are based on two archaic common law presumptions: the woman who gives birth to a child is that child’s mother, and her husband is the father. Mechanisms to prove (or disprove) parentage outside of these presumptions are largely based on biology proved by genetic testing."

"There are a number of overarching problems with this outdated regime. First, it does not recognize all families living in Nova Scotia today. Many people have children outside of these constraints, including members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. At present, people outside the scope of Nova Scotia’s parentage laws must either formally adopt their own child or ask the Registrar of Vital Statistics to be listed on birth registry documents. The expense, uncertainty, and intrusiveness of asking people to adopt their own children undermines family autonomy and devalues certain family forms (...)"

"Second, existing rules fail to account for parentage in cases of assisted reproduction. Canadians are increasingly using sperm, egg and embryo donation to have children. These technologies separate the link between biology and parentage in a way that is not contemplated by our law. This puts parents who use donated reproductive material in a precarious situation vis-à-vis their children and jeopardizes the substantive legal rights that flow from kinship to children."

"Third, existing mechanisms to account for children born via surrogacy are onerous and outdated. While Nova Scotia does have a method to recognize parents via surrogacy, at the time of writing, these laws arguably place a great deal of risk with the surrogate, exclude parties who lack viable genetic material, and mandate judicial oversight in every case (...)"

"The Institute takes the position that, as social and cultural understandings of parentage change, so too should the law’s response. This Report addresses some of the longstanding gaps in Nova Scotia’s parentage law and seeks to bring the law in line with modern realities of family creation in our Province. "

British Columbia Law Institute Consultation Paper on Parentage

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) has issued a Consultation Paper on Parentage: A Review of Part 3 of the Family Law Act.

The BCLI is a not-for-profit law reform agency based in Vancouver.

From the Executive Summary:

"Conclusively determining who a child’s parents are is an important part of family law. Parentage is the foundation of many aspects of a child’s identity, such as family name and relationships, nationality, and cultural heritage. Parentage can also determine important legal rights and responsibilities, such as a  child’s inheritance rights."

"In British Columbia, parentage is determined by rules set out in part 3 of the Family Law Act. Part 3 is  the first comprehensive legal framework for parentage in British Columbia legislation. It has rules that govern the parentage of children conceived by sexual intercourse. It also applies to children conceived by assisted human reproduction, that is for example, with the assistance of a sperm, egg, or embryo donor, or a surrogate."

"Part 3 addresses the legal consequences for parentage of the use of assisted human reproduction after a person’s death. And it has a provision empowering the court to make an order declaring a person to be (or not to be) a parent, in cases involving disputes over a child’s parentage or any uncertainty about it."

"Part 3 has been in force for a little longer than 10 years. Now is a good time to take stock about how its rules have been working out in practice."

"This consultation paper is a full-scale review of part 3. While it finds that part 3 generally provides BC with a suitable legal framework for parentage, there is also room for improvement. "

The BCLI will be accepting comments on its paper until March 31, 2024.

A final report should be ready later in the year with proposals for reform.

Recent Justice-Related Documents from the Government of Canada

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Here are a few recent additions of justice-related documents:

• Child to parent violence and aggression : reviewing the research: "Child-to-parent violence and aggression (CPVA) is described as a form of family violence characterized by a pattern (as opposed to a single incident) of violent and aggressive behaviours in children and youth Footnote1 towards their parents or primary caregivers. These behaviours may have several consequences, including: triggering fear, grief, and other emotions; experiencing a loss of control; negatively impacting both individual and family well-being; and generating new behaviours in parents, siblings and other family members or caregivers in order to avoid physical violence or verbal altercations (...) This report synthesizes the findings of a scoping review that resulted in 162 peer-reviewed articles on CPVA that were published between January 2009 and March 2022 as well as an analysis of statistical information on victims (parents or siblings) of youth violence in Canada between 2009 and 2021."
• Perceptions of the Canadian youth criminal justice system : key findings from the 2022 National Justice Survey: "The National Justice Survey (NJS) is a public opinion research survey that is administered on an annual basis to explore the perceptions and knowledge of justice-related issues of people living in Canada. Findings from this survey are used to inform policy and program development. This report focuses on youth justice-related issues and examines respondents’ perceptions and knowledge of the youth criminal justice system (YCJS)."
• Understanding family violence in diverse communities : what subject-matter experts think family law legal advisers should know: "This report summarizes five thought papers written by subject-matter experts to assist family law legal advisers in identifying and responding to family violence in diverse communities. The thought papers focused on the following population groups: racialized groups; 2SLGBTQI+ individuals; Muslim communities; newcomers; and people with disabilities."
• Experiences of Indigenous families in the family justice system : a literature review and perspectives from legal and frontline family justice professionals: "This report aims to contribute to the understanding of the experiences of Indigenous families (specifically, unmarried or married couples with children) dealing with separation and divorce, who are going through the family justice system (FJS). This includes both identifying needs specific to Indigenous people going through the mainstream FJS and developing a better understanding of Indigenous approaches to resolving family conflicts. This preliminary information will help to identify specific challenges faced by and opportunities available for Indigenous families going through separation and divorce, and those who work with them. The research can inform future efforts to respond more effectively to the needs of Indigenous families and communities, as well as opportunities to welcome more effectively the gifts of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers through subsequent policy development, consultation, and research activities in relation to family law and family justice."

Joint Report by Scottish and English Law Reform Commissions on Surrogacy

The Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission of England and Wales have published a joint report on surrogacy.

It comes in three parts:

• a Core Report
• a Full Report
• a Draft Surrogacy Bill

Surrogacy is where a woman – the surrogate – bears a child on behalf of someone else or a couple, who intend to become the child’s legal parents.

The main focus of the suggested reforms involves screening before conception, allowing meaningful scrutiny at an early stage by a regulated surrogacy organization, rather than the current law, which only involves scrutiny by the court after the child is born. The reforms would respect the autonomy of the surrogate – if she withdraws her consent, the courts will make the final decision on parental status. 

The recommendations would also ensure that surrogacy remains non-commercial by prohibiting payments to the surrogate for carrying or delivering the child, ensuring that surrogacy agreements remain unenforceable, and requiring surrogacy organizations to operate on a non-profit-making basis.

Recent Justice-Related Documents from the Government of Canada

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List can be a great way to discover new research reports published by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government. It is a record of all publications catalogued in the previous week.

Here are a few recent additions of justice-related documents:

• The Voice of the Child in Family Law: Exploring Strategies, Challenges, and Best Practices for Canada (original publication date 2019): "The objective of this project is to collect and collate research, describe existing methods to include the children’s voices in family law in Canada (and internationally where relevant), to identify themes, and to develop a comprehensive and accessible literature review. This review provides descriptions of promising practices applicable to various aspects of the voice of the child and discussions of case law."
• Victims’ Rights in Canada in the 21st Century (written in 2021): "This report will not revisit the well-known territory of theory and philosophy in any significant manner; however, Part I of this report will still explore the relationship between theory and practical change in order to provide some context and framework for the remainder of the report. Part II will explore any significant changes, and the studies which have evaluated these changes, with respect to the rights of victims to participate at trial in the past twenty years and with respect to statutory provisions designed to protect the privacy and dignity of the victim as a witness at trial. Parts III and IV will present similar, but briefer, explorations with respect to the welfare rights or entitlements of victims, as well as developments relating to restorative justice."
• Victim Privacy and Open Justice: 2.0 At the Frontiers of Change (written in 2020): "The purpose of this report, commissioned by the Research and Statistics Division of the Department of Justice, is to review and update changes to open court and victim privacy principle since 2003, which was the year that Victim Privacy and the Open Court Principle report was written (hereinafter referred to as the 2003 Report). This update maintains symmetry with the structure of the 2003 Report in its review of Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence and legislative changes since then. By 2003, the Supreme Court strongly endorsed and protected open court, adopting a strong standard of justification that required a sound evidentiary basis to warrant limits to the principle. The “second generation” jurisprudence is consistent with that conception of openness, but notable for accepting restrictions more readily and, in some instances, explicitly on grounds of a victim or participant’s vulnerability (...) The update would not be complete without discussion of two “frontier” developments: the impact of technology, and transformation of public and cultural discourse about sexual offending. First, the challenges to openness posed by technology are briefly identified and analyzed: this includes electronic court records and documents, the electronic courtroom, as well as electronic publicity and publication bans (...) Second, unexpected and major shifts in the narrative of sexual transgression represent a gamechanging development for victims of such offences and their role in the criminal justice system, including their privacy interests. Frustration with the typical justice system response to sexual assault have led some advocates to lobby for changes within the criminal justice system and sanctions that may fall outside the formal justice system. One of the more obvious and interesting points about the three watershed events discussed – #BeenRapedNeverReported, Unfounded, #MeToo – is that the transformation in discourse is for the most part driven by forces connected to, but outside the formal processes of law. Social media activism and investigative journalism have been at the forefront of change. Through the momentum of these broad-based movements, the social, psychological and cultural environment of sexual transgression has undergone fundamental change, with positive results for the reporting of offences, their handling by Canadian police forces, and victim perceptions of their status in criminal justice and willingness to step forward on their own and in solidarity with others, whether anonymously or not. "
• Review of International Child Support Models Volume I – Main Report (written in 2019): "As part of ongoing legal policy work, the Department of Justice Canada contracted with Kelly Sears Consulting Group to conduct an extensive review of international models used to determine child support amounts. The overall purpose of the research was to review and analyze child  support models with a focus on how selected issues are addressed. The jurisdictions included in this study were: the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, and the American states of Wisconsin, Delaware, Illinois, and Vermont. "
• Review of International Child Support Models Volume II – Jurisdictional Summaries

English Law Commission Proposes Overhaul of Outdated Wedding Laws

The Law Commission of England and Wales has released a report recommending many changes to the laws governing the celebration of weddings.

Among other things, it would allow for a much wider range of locations for couples to get married. This would include gardens, beaches, forests, parks, village halls and cruise ships.

The changes would also allow for more personalised vows, rituals and songs chosen. In addition, the recommendations would ensure fairer treatment for all beliefs, removing the anomalies of the current system, where different religions are bound by a multitude of different rules. 

Key parts of English wedding laws date back to 1836 or even earlier. 

The Commission states that the changes proposed would bring England and Wales in line with laws in other places including those  in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Australia.

Manitoba Law Reform Commission Paper on Parental Maintenance

The Manitoba Law Reform Commission has published a consultation paper on the provincial Parents' Maintenance Act (PMA):

"It is a well-known tenant of law that parents have a statutory duty to provide reasonably for the support, maintenance, and education of their minor children by way of child support. It is lesser known that in most Canadian jurisdictions, including Manitoba, children have a  statutory duty to provide financial support to their parents, who by reason of age, disability, or infirmity are unable to maintain themselves (“parents’ maintenance”). This Paper addresses parents’ maintenance and not child support. Parents’ maintenance legislation currently exists in all Canadian provinces and territories, except British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan."

The consultation paper examines the arguments to repealing and amending the Act.

New Zealand Law Commission Releases Report on Surrogacy

The Law Commission of New Zealand recently published a report on surrogacy.

"This review has examined surrogacy law, regulation and practice, both in the domestic context and overseas. We have taken account of recent international developments in the regulation of surrogacy as well as law reform in other countries."

"A key problem is that the law does not recognise surrogacy as a process that creates a parentchild relationship between the intended parents and the surrogate-born child. Instead, intended parents must use the Adoption Act 1955, now over 65 years old and designed at a time when the modern practice of surrogacy could not have been contemplated. The prompt introduction and enactment of the Paige Harris Birth Registration Act 2022 with the unanimous support of the House illustrates the failure of the current law to meet the needs and reasonable expectations of New Zealanders."

"This Report recommends a new legal framework for determining legal parenthood in surrogacy arrangements. Surrogacy should be recognised as a legitimate method of family building that is distinct from adoption. Our recommendations accommodate all forms of surrogacy arrangements as we think that this will best promote the paramountcy of children’s best interests."

"Alongside a new framework for determining legal parenthood, we recommend a surrogacy birth register to preserve information for surrogate-born people about their genetic and gestational origins and whakapapa [Maori term sor geneaology] . We know from the experiences of adopted and donor-conceived people that such information is fundamental to a person’s identity and wellbeing."

Alberta Law Reform Institute Report on Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent

 The Alberta Law Reform Institute recently released a report on Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent:

"Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent, Final Report 117 recommends that the Wills and Succession Act be reformed to allow a child to apply for family maintenance and support from the estate of a person who stood in the place of a parent (...)"

"This recommendation would close a gap in the law about child support. A child may apply for support from a person standing in the place of a parent while the person is alive, but not after the person’s death. ALRI has concluded that children should be able to apply for support in both situations. ALRI recommendations are based on widespread consultation including three online surveys targeted at the general public ..."

"ALRI’s recommendations would make the Wills and Succession Act consistent with other provincial legislation that provides benefits to a child with a person standing in the place of a parent, like the Family Law Act, the Fatal Accidents Act, and the Workers’ Compensation Act."

CanLII Adds More Law Books

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, has recently added new textbooks to its commentary collection.

It has added entirely new or updated materials on:

• Civil Procedure and Practice in Ontario
• Domestic Violence and Access to Justice: A Mapping of Relevant Laws, Policies and Justice System Components Across Canada
• Tort Law: Cases and Commentaries

CanLII is a portal funded by Canada’s provincial and territorial law societies to make legal information content (court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations, commentary) available to Canadians free of charge.

In recent years, it has been rapidly expanding its offerings of legal commentary, including law reviews, reports, newsletters and thousands of case commentaries.

British Columbia Law Institute Report on Pension Division Between Separating Spouses

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) has published a report on Pension Division: A Review of Part 6 of the Family Law Act:

"When a spousal relationship breaks down, the separating spouses are often faced with trying emotional, financial, and legal issues. This report is concerned with one set of legal issues that may arise from the breakdown of a spousal relationship. These legal issues involve the division of a pension between the separating spouses."

"British Columbia has had pension-division legislation in force since July 1995. It has generally worked well, fulfilling its purpose to provide British Columbia with a comprehensive and detailed set of rules on pension division, largely sparing the courts from having to settle, in litigation, issues that call for specialized expertise. Part of the success of this legislation can be attributed to the fact that it has been regularly reviewed and improved, to keep pace with developments in family and pension law."

"The latest version of British Columbia’s pension-division legislation is found in part 6 of the Family Law Act. This legislation has been in force since March 2013. There have been some significant developments in family and pension law since that time. The time is ripe for another review of pension-division legislation."

"This report contains that review. It has found that the legislation is still working well in general. But specific areas can be improved. These improvements are set out in the report’s 25 recommendations for reform."

The recommendations deals with issues such as the death of a spouse; waiving survivor benefits after pension commencement; commuted value: disability benefits; locked-in retirement accounts and life income funds; private annuities; and administrative fees.

More details about the Pension Division Review Project are available on the BCLI website.

Most Recent Issue of LawNow: Rural Law

The most recent issue of LawNow is available online. The magazine is published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

The issue features a series of articles that look back at  major legal developments over the past 20 years.

There is also a special report on the state of the law in rural communities.

Most Recent Issue of LawNow: Family Break-ups

The most recent issue of LawNow is available online. The magazine is published by the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.

The issue features a series of articles on "Family Break-ups & the Law".

There is also a special report on globbalization.

New Zealand Law Commission Report on Dividing Property on Separation

The New Zealand Law Commission last week released its final report on the Review of the Property (Relationships) Act 1976.

The Act sets out how relationship property should be divided when a relationship ends by separation or death.

The report recommends a new Act be introduced covering relationships ending by separation because it considers the existing legislation to be out of date:

"Some significant changes to the law are required to achieve a just division of property between partners on separation. It is essential that the right pool of property is available for sharing. We have concluded it is no longer appropriate to share automatically the family home no matter how it was brought to the relationship. Only property acquired during the relationship or acquired for the couple's common use or benefit should be shared. We also think that some property held on trust has been wrongly excluded from the pool for division and that the courts should have clearer powers to address this. In response to the longstanding problem of how to share more fairly the economic advantages and disadvantages that can arise on separation, we have proposed an entitlement to share family income for a limited period after separation. We have also concluded it would be wrong to ignore the opportunity in this review to promote the best interests of children when their parents separate. Changes to the way in which relationship property disputes are resolved are important as well to address behaviour that causes delay and increases costs."

"Our recommendations constitute a package of reforms. Many of our recommendations work together. For example, refining the pool of property available for division is balanced by a more effective regime to share the economic advantages and disadvantages arising from the relationship or its end."

"Despite our recommendations for change, certain fundamental aspects of the law should remain as they are. The law should continue to value all forms of contribution to a relationship. This underpins the general approach of equal sharing, a '50/50 split', of relationship property. The law should continue to apply to relationships that are substantively the same – marriages, civil unions and de facto relationships of three years or more. "

The Law Commission did not consider relationships ending on death, and recommended that these should be dealt with separately. 

Law Commission of England Consultation on Surrogacy

The English Law Commission has published a consultation document on the law of surrogacy.

From the description of the project:

"Surrogacy is where a woman – the surrogate – bears a child on behalf of someone else or a couple, who intend to become the child’s parents.|

"As society changes, surrogacy is becoming more common – the number of children born this way could be 10 times higher than it was a decade ago."

"In the UK, surrogacy is governed by the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 and certain provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008."

"But there are significant problems with the law. Currently, intended parents have to wait until the child has been born and then apply to court to become the child’s parents. The process can take many months to complete and doesn’t reflect the reality of the child’s family life, and affects the intended parents’ ability to take decisions about the child in their care (...)"

"In the paper, we make provisional proposals to improve surrogacy laws so they better support the child, surrogates and intended parents. Key proposals include:

• Creating a new surrogacy pathway that will allow, in many cases, the intended parents to be the legal parents of the child from the moment of birth.
• Introducing specific regulation for surrogacy arrangements and safeguards such as counselling and independent legal advice. This should reduce risk of arrangements breaking down.
• Allowing international surrogacy arrangements to be recognised here, on a country-by-country basis."

Th consultation period ends in September 2019.

Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan Report on Assisted Reproduction & Parentage

The Law Reform Commission of Saskatchewan recently published its Final Report on Assisted Reproduction & Parentage:

"The use of assisted reproduction to conceive children is increasing in Canada, however, Saskatchewan’s parentage legislation does not provide clear rules on who the parents of a child born through assisted reproduction should be. The Commission’s recommendations are based on the need to ensure certainty and clarity at the earliest possible time for intended parents and their children, the need for all individuals to receive equal treatment before the law, the best interests of children, and a desire for Saskatchewan’s parentage legislation to be as harmonious as possible with other Canadian jurisdictions."

The report looks at reform attempts in other Canadian provinces and in foreign jurisdictions such as New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Alberta Law Reform Institute Report on Property Division Rules for Common-law Couples

The Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI) has published a report on Property Division: Common-law Couples and Adult Interdependent Partners:

"Couples should be free to make their own agreements regarding ownership and division of property. ALRI recommends that legislation should allow common law couples to make their own agreements. ALRI further recommends that agreements should be subject to specific requirements in order to be enforceable. Those requirements, which include independent legal advice, are intended to make sure that each common law partner is aware of their potential claims to property and the nature and effect of the agreement, and that each partner is entering the agreement freely and voluntarily."

"An agreement that does not satisfy these safeguards is not enforceable but may be considered by the Court in an application by one or both partners to divide property."

"If a couple does not make their own agreement or their agreement is not enforceable, ALRI recommends that there should be default rules to govern the division of property."

"Legislated default rules for property division should apply to couples who are adult interdependent partners under the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act. The criteria in the Act consider whether the couple are interdependent economically, domestically and socially. Couples also have to live together for a specified qualifying period, although they may shorten or eliminate the qualifying period by making a written agreement. Short term or casual relationships would not trigger the property division rules."