Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family
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The Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family was established on 1 February 1987. The objects of the Institute are to undertake and advance interdisciplinary research, education, and publication on issues related to law and the family; to promote evidence-based reform of the law and legal processes; and, to improve access to justice in family law matters.
The Institute is an independent organization affiliated with the University of Calgary, and is managed by a board of directors made up of prominent judges and family law lawyers, and leading scholars in law, social work, psychology and sociology, from across Canada. The Institute has been incorporated as a registered charity since 1988.
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- ItemOpen AccessClient and Lawyer Satisfaction with Unbundled Legal Services: Conclusion from the Alberta Limited Legal Services Project(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2018-08) Boyd, J.-P. E.This report presents a discussion of the data collected from clients and lawyers through the Alberta Limited Legal Services Project. This work was funded by a project grant provided by The Law Foundation of Ontario, through its Access to Justice Fund, and by an operating grant provided by the Alberta Law Foundation. The Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family gratefully acknowledges the generous support of both Foundations, without which this research could not have been undertaken.
- ItemOpen AccessAn Evaluation of Alberta's Mandatory Early Intervention Case Conference Pilot Project(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2018-08) Bertrand, Lorne D.; Paetsch, Joanne J.; Boyd, J.-P. E.Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench has implemented a pilot project requiring early intervention case conferences (EICCs) in certain family law cases. The pilot project is one of the Court’s responses to the increasing numbers of litigants without counsel, the short complement of the bench relative to the province’s population and the increasing delays until family law cases can be tried. The EICC pilot project is intended to promote access to justice for families in Canada by providing a means for families to have their family law cases heard expeditiously and settled efficiently.
- ItemOpen AccessAn Evaluation of The Aspire Legal Access Initiative(2018-07) Paetsch, Joanne J.; Bertrand, Lorne D.The University of Calgary’s Aspire Legal Access Initiative (ALAI), the first Canadian incubator project, was developed to provide its law school graduates with intensive articles in family law while improving access to family justice. Special project funding to operate the incubator was originally requested from the Alberta Law Foundation and other sources of potential funding, but the application was turned down. The University of Calgary agreed to support the initial startup of the program, and the project was able to move forward. An Executive Director, lawyer Kyla Sandwith, was hired in the summer of 2017, the necessary articles of incorporation were prepared, and the first cohort of four articled students was selected shortly thereafter.
- ItemOpen AccessChildren’s Participation In Justice Processes: Survey Of Justices Of Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2018-06) Paetsch, Joanne J.; Bertrand, Lorne D.; Boyd, J.-P. E.In September 2017, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family and Alberta’s Office of the Child and Youth Advocate hosted a two-day national symposium to discuss the impact of the legal system on Canadian families, with the goal of generating innovative ideas, new research priorities and best practices around the ways that children participate in legal processes. One component of that project involved the Institute conducting a survey of participants prior to the symposium. The survey collected data on participants’ attitudes on the importance of soliciting children’s views in family law proceedings that affect them, the best ways to determine those views, and the extent to which they have had experience with soliciting children’s views in their work. The resulting report was published in December 2017 (Paetsch, Bertrand & Boyd, 2017). The substantial majority of survey respondents were lawyers; only four judges completed the survey. It was decided that, in addition to the information collected from lawyers, it would be very useful to also solicit the views from the bench on this important topic. The Institute requested and received permission from Associate Chief Justice Rooke of Alberta’s Court of Queen’s Bench to conduct a survey of Queen’s Bench justices on the subjects addressed in the survey of symposium participants. A questionnaire was developed based on the content of the earlier survey to maximize comparability of the two instruments.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Boomers Are Coming: Economic and Other Issues of Older Individuals(2015-01) Boyd, J.-P. E.; Laing, A.Ours is an aging population. Life expectancy is increasing across the world at the same time as birth rates are falling. According to the United Nations, population of older persons is increasing at a rate of 2.6% per year, outstripping the 1.2% growth rate of the general population; the proportion of people aged 60 and older increased from 8% in 1950 to 11% in 2009, and is expected to climb to 22% by 2050.1 The growing number of older persons is partly attributable to the remarkable economic, medical and technological progress achieved in the last century and partly to the baby boom that the west experienced between 1946 and 1965, and Canada is no exception. Comparing the 2006 and 2011 census results, Statistics Canada reports that the number of people aged 65 and older has increased by 14.1% and reached a record high of 14.8% of the Canadian population. Statistics Canada further reports that of all five-year age groups, the 60 to 64 group is increasing the fastest – followed, in order, by people who are 100 and older, 85 to 89, 95 to 99 and 65 to 69 – and that population aging will accelerate as the boomers gradually turn 65.