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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Item Open Access Client 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.Item Open Access An 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.Item Open Access An 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.Item Open Access Children’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.Item Open Access The 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.Item Open Access Summary Legal Advice Services in Alberta: Survey Results from the First Two Years of Data Collection(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2018-01) Bertrand, L.D.; Paetsch, J.J.The Alberta Law Foundation and the community legal clinics in Alberta have implemented a project to evaluate the summary legal advice services provided by the clinics. Summary legal advice involves volunteer lawyers providing up to 60 minutes of legal advice to low income individuals who are generally handling their legal problems on their own. A logic model was developed to articulate the inputs, activities, outputs, and intended outcomes of the services, and survey instruments were designed to assess the outcomes. The clinics participating in the study are: Calgary Legal Guidance; Edmonton Community Legal Centre; Central Alberta Community Legal Clinic in Red Deer; and Lethbridge Legal Guidance. The overall goal of the project is to build evaluation capacity within the clinics to enable them to carry out their own evaluations, thus providing them with the data needed to make evidence-based decisions to improve their legal advice services. The goal of the evaluation is to examine the extent to which the intended outcomes identified in the logic model are being achieved, and to assess what type of adjustments may be necessary to better achieve the intended outcomes. The Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family was asked to assist the project by reviewing and revising the proposed data collection instruments, establishing data collection procedures and documenting them in a user-friendly manual for clinic staff, and periodically analyzing the aggregate data from the four participating clinics.Item Open Access Collaborative Settlement: Resolving Disputes After Separation or Divorce(2015-01) Boyd, J.-P. E.Item Open Access An International Review of Polygamy: Legal and Policy Implications for Canada(Status of Women Canada, 2005-01) Bala, N.; Duvall-Antonacopoulos, K.; MacRae, L.; Paetsch, J.J.Devising effective legislative and policy strategies for dealing with polygamy in Canada requires an analysis as to how practices associated with plural marriage affect the lives of women. This report seeks to illuminate how life within a polygamous marriage might affect women’s social and economic status, as well as their overall health and well-being. This report also undertakes an examination of law and policy approaches to polygamy worldwide, with a view to assessing whether existing responses to polygamy adequately address the needs, rights and realities of women living within plural marriages. Based on this analysis, recommendations are made as to the most appropriate approach to polygamy in the Canadian context.Item Metadata only An International Review of Child Welfare Policy and Practice in Relation to Aboriginal People(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 1991-01) Pellatt, A.Item Open Access Access to Justice in Indigenous Communities: Know Your Rights with Police(Calgary Legal Guidance, 2017-01) Calgary Legal GuidanceTo provide basic information about rights of individuals when interacting with law enforcement • To provide some strategies for dealing with some situations that may arise during a police encounterItem Open Access Access to Justice in Indigenous Communities: An Intercultural Strategy to Improve Access to Justice(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2017-01) Wright, A.C.In 2015, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family partnered with Calgary Legal Guidance (CLG) to develop a project that would build intercultural partnerships in two Indigenous communities in order to build agency capacity that would increase access to justice. The project was funded in large part by the Human Rights and Education Multiculturalism Fund, with in-kind funding provided by the Institute through the Alberta Law Foundation, CLG and our community partners. Our community partners included Vanessa Omeasso of the Restorative Justice program in Maskwacis and Dr. Laura Kiepal of the Peace River Region Women’s Shelter in Peace River. In addition to agency partners and community members, we have also worked with Elders from these communities who have advised on the strategy. The project goal was to improve access to the justice system for all people, particularly in communities where there are barriers such as transportation and a lack of legal education. Over the last year, we conducted stakeholder meetings with community members, justice staff and social agency staff, and compiled information about the work already being undertaken in the communities that have been working with us. Our project sought to meet five primary outcomes: 1. establish intercultural partnerships that meet the diverse and unique needs of Indigenous communities; 2. foster agency relationships in order to deliver the project strategy, developed by the community and elder consultations; 3. support strategic partnerships to meet future research and project needs, identified throughout the consultations and focus groups; 4. increase access to and utilization of existing legal services in Indigenous communities; and 5. generate a method of practice for working inclusively within Indigenous communities.Item Open Access A Study of Youth Reoffending in Calgary(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2009-01) MacRae, L.D.; Bertrand, L.D.; Paetsch, J.J.; Hornick, J.P.; DeGusti, B.In 2006, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family began work on a three-year study of youth offending in Calgary. One objective of the study was to develop a model for better understanding why some youth become more seriously involved in crime, while others do not. The first year of the study established a baseline for this model by developing profiles of youth offending in Calgary.1 With funding from the Alberta Law Foundation, and in partnership with City of Calgary Community and Neighbourhood Services and the Calgary Police Service, the purpose of current report is to use Calgary Police Service data to determine which of the 123 youth profiled in the original study sample went on to reoffend, and further, which factors differentiate repeat from non-repeat offenders. This report will contribute to the body of research on risk and protective factors for youth offending, and further assist the Calgary Police Service, City of Calgary Community and Neighbourhood Services, and other youth-serving agencies, as well as those who work in the youth justice field in general (i.e., judges, lawyers) in developing evidence-based prevention and intervention programs for youth offenders. The objectives of this report are to: Re-examine the files of the 123 youth in the study sample and determine how the study groups differed on individual, family, peer, school, and community factors; Identify factors that are related to youth reoffending; and Determine the factors that are most important in predicting which youth continued to reoffend from those who did not.Item Open Access A Miscellany of Recent, Frequently Cited Appellate Child Support Decisions(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2016-01) Boyd, J.-P. E.The Federal Child Support Guidelines1 are now almost twenty years old, having come into force on 1 May 1997 as a regulation to the Divorce Act. 2 The Guidelines emerged from work begun by the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Family Law Committee in 1990 in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the determination and tax treatment of child support, and were implemented by government with the intention of helping parents, lawyers and judges set “fair and consistent” amounts of child support. 3 Over the years that followed, the Guidelines were adapted and adopted by most provinces and territories4 for the purposes of their local domestic relations legislation, and a relatively consistent body of case law developed interpreting the new regulation and addressing tricky issues like the amount of support payable for children over the age of majority, when the payor’s annual income is in excess of $150,000 and when parents have shared custody of their children.Item Open Access A Brief Overview of Bill C-78, An Act to Amend the Divorce Act and Related Legislation: Part II(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, 2018-01) Boyd, J.-P. E.Also known as the Hague Child Support Convention, this 2007 multilateral agreement is intended to “improve cooperation among States for the international recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance,” and establishes a procedure under which a person may apply for a support order de novo in another signatory state, referred to in the convention as “Contracting States;” and secure the recognition and enforcement of support orders made by the courts of one signatory state in other signatory states.Item Open Access The Kerby Centre's Legal Services Program: An Examination of Clients' Experiences(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2014-01-01) Bertrand, L.D.; MacRae-Krisa, M.A.The Kerby Centre offers numerous services and programs to older adults in the Calgary area. One of these is the Legal Services Program offered by the Information Centre through which clients can receive a brief, free session with a lawyer who will provide them with assistance such as legal advice and drafting or reviewing documents (e.g., wills, powers of attorney, personal directives). Historically, the legal services were provided by volunteer lawyers from the Calgary community and were offered during two afternoons per week. In early 2013, the Kerby Centre entered into a partnership with Calgary Legal Guidance (CLG) whereby a lawyer from CLG would provide legal sessions at the Kerby Centre one afternoon per week in addition to the sessions conducted by the volunteer lawyers. In the fall of 2012, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family (the Institute) began discussions with the Kerby Centre to undertake a research project that would provide information about the process and effectiveness of the Legal Services Program. Specifically, the project was designed to collect information from the participating lawyers regarding the number of sessions conducted, the legal issues discussed during the sessions, and the actions undertaken to assist clients with their legal needs. In addition, clients were asked to complete a brief survey following their session that collected information regarding their legal needs and the extent to which the lawyer addressed those needs, as well as their satisfaction with the assistance they received. Clients were also asked to complete a follow--‐‑up mail survey two to three months following their initial session to determine whether they had accessed any additional legal services to assist them with their legal needs and whether they had any outstanding legal issues for which they required assistance. This report presents the findings from this research project.Item Open Access The Impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act on Case Flow in Alberta and System Response in Calgary(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2008-09-02) DeGusti, B.Objectives of the Report Examine the flow of cases through the youth criminal justice system to understand the impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) in Alberta. Understand changes in the occupational practices and workload of police officers and probation officers working with offending youth in Calgary as a result of the new legislation.Item Open Access An Evaluation of the Clicklaw Wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law: Final Report(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2016) Bertrand, L.D.; Paetsch, J.J.In 2013, Clicklaw, a public legal education website operated by Courthouse Libraries BC, added JP Boyd on Family Law to its collection of on- and off-line wikibooks. Wikibooks are websites built on the MediaWiki platform, an open-source application that powers websites such as Wikipedia and Scholarpedia. Wikibooks are agile, highly adaptable websites typically used to present large amounts of information from multiple authors in a digestible, easily accessible and easily editable manner. Unlike most MediaWiki websites that allow any user to emend content, Clicklaw wikibooks use a unique content development model in which potential contributors are screened by the Clicklaw Wikibooks team before being given editorial privileges. The wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law contains more than 120 webpages of substantive legal information, about 500 definitions of common legal words and phrases, links to hundreds of key government and non-government resources, and more than 100 downloadable forms for the British Columbia Supreme and Provincial Courts. In print format, the wikibook exceeds 650 pages. Anecdotal information suggests that the wikibook has been very well received by the bar, the judiciary and the general public. In November 2014 the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family received a grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia to conduct the first phase of an evaluation of the JP Boyd on Family Law wikibook. Courthouse Libraries BC, which operates the wikibook, agreed to match this funding to allow an examination of the longitudinal impact of the legal information obtained by users. The grant from Courthouse Libraries BC helped to defray the expenses in the first phase of the project and funded the second phase of the study. The first phase of this project evaluated the outputs and the outcomes of the wikibook by collecting and analyzing usage data from Google Analytics and user feedback provided through a pop-up survey accessed through the website and a followup survey administered one week later in order to gauge the efficacy of the wikibook as a collaborative public legal education model. The second phase of the evaluation examined the longitudinal effect of legal information obtained from the wikibook through a follow-up electronic survey, conducted with the original sample group six months after completion of their first phase surveys. Data from Google Analytics were also updated during the second phase for a one-year period from 1 February 2015 through 31 January 2016.Item Open Access The Impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act on Case Flow in Alberta and System Response in Calgary(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2008-09-01) DeGusti, B.The purpose of this study is to examine how the implementation of the YCJA has affected the flow of cases through the youth justice system, and the impact of the new legislation on workload for frontline staff in the youth justice system (i.e., police officers, probation officers). To achieve this goal, two main research activities were undertaken. First, CRILF examined the flow of cases processed through the youth justice system in Alberta from 2001 through 2006. This examination provides information on whether the youth system is adhering to the principles of diversion, fair sentencing and the reduction of incarceration mandated in the YCJA. Second, focus groups with police officers were conducted to identify the use of extrajudicial measures that would not be captured in the youth crime and correctional statistics and the effect of the new legislation on their work and workload. Focus groups were also conducted with probation officers to obtain information on changes in their workload patterns and their opinions on the success of rehabilitation and reintegration since the implementation of the YCJA. Participants of the focus groups were further asked to assess the current legislation's effectiveness in achieving its objectives and to provide suggestions for improvement to the current youth criminal justice system.Item Open Access An Evaluation of Alberta's Family Law Act(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2009-05-01) MacRae, L.D.; Simpson, S.; Paetsch, J.J.; Bertrand, L.D.; Pearson, S.; Hornick, J.P.The Alberta Family Law Act (FLA) was enacted on October 1, 2005 in an effort to modernize, rationalize and consolidate Alberta family law, streamline court procedures, and provide a non-adversarial approach to resolving family conflict in the best interests of children and families. With funding form the Alberta Law Foundation, the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family (CRILF) conducted a two-year evaluation of the legislation in order to determine whether the procedural and substantive changes are fair, effective, and efficient. The objectives of this study were to: 1. Develop a detailed evaluation framework, including measurement tools and instruments. CRILF worked with the Steering Committee to determine what was feasible in terms of data collection and measurement. The evaluation framework guided the remainder of the project; 2. Evaluate the impact of the procedural changes that have resulted from the FLA. A significant change under the Family Law Act was the streamlining of court procedures. The project examined the impact of this change on workload to see if the Act has been successful in its objectives of procedural effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility; 3. Evaluate the impact of the substantive changes outlined in the FLA. Substantively, the Family Law Act deals with all aspects of family law in a nondivorce context. The Act recognizes changing social conditions and updates key legal concepts. It is important to assess whether the changes have been fair, effective, and efficient; and, 4. Inform recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the FLA and to fine tune provisions.Item Open Access The Impact of the Youth Criminal Justice Act on Case Flow in Alberta and System Response in Calgary Executive Summary(Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family., 2008-09-01) DeGusti, B.The purpose of this study is to examine how the implementation of the YCJA has affected the flow of cases through the youth justice system, and the impact of the new legislation on workload for frontline staff in the youth justice system (i.e., police officers, probation officers). To achieve this goal, two main research activities were undertaken. First, CRILF examined the flow of cases processed through the youth justice system in Alberta from 2001 through 2006. This examination provides information on whether the youth system is adhering to the principles of diversion, fair sentencing and the reduction of incarceration mandated in the YCJA. Second, focus groups with police officers were conducted to identify the use of extrajudicial measures that would not be captured in the youth crime and correctional statistics and the effect of the new legislation on their work and workload. Focus groups were also conducted with probation officers to obtain information on changes in their workload patterns and their opinions on the success of rehabilitation and reintegration since the implementation of the YCJA. Participants of the focus groups were further asked to assess the current legislation's effectiveness in achieving its objectives and to provide suggestions for improvement to the current youth criminal justice system.