FAMILY LAW

December 2009
Fourteen organizations, including CFUW Ontario Council, endorsed a paper prepared by Luke's Place Support and Resource Centre concerning changes to family court process reform.

December 10, 2008
FAMILY LAW EDUCATION FOR WOMEN PROJECT (FLEW)
We have cleared the first few hurdles of making women (and men) cognizant of their rights under family law, a goal for which all Ontario Clubs advocated heavily with their MPPs.

The Campaign, "All Women. One Family Law", has been launched on December 10, Human Rights Day, by the Hon. Deb Matthews, Ontario Minister of Children & Youth Services & Minister Responsible for Women's Issues and by the Ontario Attorney General, the Hon. Chris Bentley.

CFUW Ontario Council is a founding member of the consortium of women's groups, Family Law Education for Women Project (FLEW) that received $ 1.3 million from the Ontario Government to develop the education materials and run an education campaign. As Ontario Council's Representative to FLEW I attended the launch on behalf of CFUW Ontario Council along with Myra Willis, Ontario Council President and Advocacy Coordinator Teri Shaw.

The two ministers unveiled some of the seemingly simple but very difficult to produce education materials (some still in production). You'll all remember about the triumphs, trials and errors of designing appropriate materials that Lisa Cirillo, Project Coordinator, described to all of us at the Ontario Council AGM in North Bay last May.

Do have a look at some of the material on www.onefamilylaw.ca or www.undroitdefamille.ca . I am sure we'll all find useful information even for ourselves and our daughters and granddaughters.

The press release can be found at http://smr.newswire.ca/en/flew/all-women-one-family-law

Edeltraud Neal
CFUW Ontario Council
FLEW representative

January 30, 2008

From the CFUW Ontario Council Pre-Budget Brief:

Family Law Education for Women Project
CFUW Ontario Council commends the government of Ontario for the measures taken in the wake of the Family Statute Laws Amendment Act 2005 that will provide tools for making women cognizant of their rights in family law. This will allow them to make informed decisions with regard to alternative dispute resolution, arbitration, domestic contracts, marriage and divorce, custody and access, child support, spousal support, property division, child protection, and inheritance law.

CFUW Ontario Council holds that many women need education on these subjects. In crisis situations it is imperative that aboriginal women, non-status women, immigrant and refugee women, those living in closed faith communities and those otherwise vulnerable, have available easily accessible legal information and other resources.

We are reminded daily that men and women need to know that in Canadian law violence against women which is most often domestic violence, is unacceptable. The women affected, and their families, need to be aware of the consequences of the intersection between immigration and family law, as well as between criminal law and family law. They also need to know how to find family law legal assistance.

The culturally appropriate materials that are being developed with the funding of the Ontario government in English and French and several other languages by the Family Law Education for Women (FLEW) Consortium form the basis for an ongoing family law education process in Ontario communities. The material currently under development is intended for a grade 7 education level and thus will be useful in many contexts.

CFUW Ontario Council is pleased to be a member of the FLEW Consortium as part of the Reference group collaborating with other women’s groups on how to best develop these materials for the use by women require this legal information.

CFUW Ontario Council recommends that the Government of Ontario

• continue to extend, monitor, support and fund family law literacy in Ontario communities, and
• make available culturally tailored family law education materials to male and female students in Ontario schools, thereby preventing the tragic consequences caused by ignorance of Ontario family law.

August 16, 2007

Ontario Council is working with other women’s groups on a project called the Family Law Education for Women Project (FLEW), a project that will develop public legal education materials and outreach activities to help women make informed decisions about family law issues. The press release from the government about this project can be found at www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/owd/english/news/n160807.htm and www.citizenship.gov.on.ca/owd/english/news/b160807.htm

The government is providing $1.36 million in funding over two years to help vulnerable women learn about their rights and options under Ontario family law. A consortium of women’s organizations, led by the YWCA Toronto, has been established to develop public legal education materials and community outreach activities.

The management committee, which has overall responsibility for the project, currently consists of:

• YWCA Toronto
• YWCA Canada
• Action ontarienne contre la violence faite aux femmes (AOcVF)
• Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW)
• Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO)
• Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women & Children (METRAC)
• Springtide Resources

• Arab Community Centre of Toronto (ACCT)
• Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic
• Canadian Federation of University Women - Ontario Council (CFUW - OC)
• Centre des ressources de l’Est d’Ottawa/Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre
• Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women and Children (CREVAWC)
• Centre Novas, Centre d’aide et de lutte aux agressions à caractère sexuel de Prescott-Russell
• Disabled Women's Network Ontario (DAWN)
• Immigrant Women Services Ottawa (IWSO)
• Jewish Women International (JWI)
• Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC)
• Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
• Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres (OFIFC)
• Ontario Native Women's Association (ONWA)
• Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services (PICS)
• Service Coalition in the South Asian Community
• Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Rights & Democracy
• Faye Peterson Transition House, Thunder Bay