Department of Justice Canada

Acting in the best interests of the child is the number one priority in all family law matters involving children. The new Divorce Act sets out duties for parents and others to help them act in the best interests of the child, including when courts are involved. Changes to the Divorce Act also...

This fact sheet provides information on family violence. Family violence occurs when a person abuses someone in their family. It can happen to anyone - both children and adults. Family violence can be words, acts or even not giving someone the care they need. It may be a single incident, or a...

This paper explores the issues that arise in child protection proceedings involving family violence, where there are concurrent family and/or criminal proceedings. A particular focus is on issues in concurrent proceedings in cases involving intimate partner violence, though there is some...

This report is intended to focus on best practices related to cases making their way through the criminal justice system, where there are multiple proceedings – including family law and/or child protection proceedings. The goal is to identify practices that promote the safety of all family...

The purpose of this report is to document, from a family law perspective, best practice options when domestic violence cases are making their way through multiple proceedings (criminal, civil, family, and child protection). The intention is to identify practices that can promote the safety of...

In January 2011, federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) Deputy Ministers responsible for Justice and Public Safety approved the creation of a joint family and criminal Ad Hoc Working Group on Family Violence to examine how the family, child protection, and criminal sectors of the justice system...

This Revised User’s Guide (which we sometimes call the “RUG”) updates and replaces the two previous versions: the original User’s Guide released in July 2008 with the Final Version of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG); and the New and Improved User’s Guide which we produced in March...

Legistics is a collection of terms commonly used in legislative decisions or legal documents. It is meant to provide meaning to terms used including notwithstanding, Gender-neutral language and others. Occasionally, due to the nature of a resource, it can only be made available in one of the two...

The Legal Aid Survey was a Statistics Canada annual survey on revenues, expenditures, personnel, and caseload statistics associated with the administration and delivery of legal aid in Canada. The Legal Aid Survey was first conducted in 1983–84 and data was last published in 2016 (for fiscal year...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

On November 29, 2021, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada introduced a bill to criminalize so-called conversion therapy practices in Canada. Conversion therapy is a practice that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation to heterosexual, to change an individual’s...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

Section 4.2 of the Department of Justice Act requires the Minister of Justice to prepare a Charter Statement for every government bill to help inform public and Parliamentary debate on government bills. One of the Minister of Justice’s most important responsibilities is to examine legislation for...

The 2019 to 2022 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) presents the Government of Canada’s sustainable development goals and targets, as required by the Federal Sustainable Development Act. In keeping with the purpose of this Act to provide the legal framework for developing and...