By: Jennifer Koshan and Irene Oh
PDF Version: “Extraordinarily Difficult”: Parenting Time and the Rights of Children in Cases Involving Family Violence
Case Commented On: DAF v SRG, 2020 ABCA 25 (CanLII)
Family law cases can raise issues that are very challenging for the legal system to address, especially where there has been domestic violence. As the Alberta Court of Appeal recently noted in DAF v SRG, these cases can entail “extraordinarily difficult decisions” with “potentially profound consequences for the parties and the children involved” (at para 19). Yet these cases are “made challenging by limited time and often conflicting affidavits” and may involve “disparate proceedings in multiple courts” (at para 19). Alberta was moving toward a Unified Family Court that would have consolidated family proceedings in one court presided over by judges experienced in family law. However, in late February the government put this initiative on hold, apparently because of costs.
The decision of Justices Patricia Rowbotham, Sheila Greckol and Dawn Pentelechuk in DAF v SRG underlines the need for a Unified Family Court in Alberta, raising issues about what level of parental contact with children is appropriate where there has been domestic violence and how the voices of children can be brought forward in such cases. The decision also provides an opportunity to discuss recent amendments to the Divorce Act, RSC 1985, c 3 (2nd Supp) and what impact those amendments should have on family law in Alberta.