DIVORCE BILL IGNORES SHARED PARENTING
Divorce Act requires overhaul to protect best interests of children

December 10, 2002

OTTAWA - The long anticipated justice bill amending the Divorce Act fails to provide the necessary changes to ensure the best interests of children are considered during divorce proceedings, stated Jay Hill, Canadian Alliance Justice critic for child custody and divorce, and Larry Spencer, Canadian Alliance Family Issues Critic. The bill, tabled today, is a half-measured attempt to address longstanding contentions held by Canadians with the current legislation affecting divorces.

“Under the guise of reforming the Divorce Act, Minister Cauchon has introduced a bill that will do nothing to implement the changes needed in family law. Replacing the terms ‘custody’ and ‘access’ with gentler language will do nothing to make divorce proceedings less adversarial,” said Hill, Member of Parliament for Prince George - Peace River.

“These changes make an attempt to change the way parents and children deal with the aftermath of divorce. However, some sections of the existing legislation were simply moved to new places. Moving the same words to a new section will have little impact on judicial decisions,” said Larry Spencer, Canadian Alliance Family Issues Critic.

“The prevailing mentality in custody disputes is to declare a winner and a loser. This will not change under the new legislation. The courts must be required to provide automatic shared parenting arrangements, except for legitimate circumstances of violence, abuse or neglect,” Hill affirmed.

Hill has been a longstanding advocate for shared parenting of children in cases of divorce or separation. On October 23, he introduced Private Members’ Bill C-245 on the topic of shared parenting.