114 search results for
Fleeing violence
Recommendation 4:
These examples indicate a need for there to be an explicit legal obligation on the Ministry to actively consider placing the child with extended family members or returning the child to the parent. The federal standard, as set out in Bill C-92, requires that a reassessment of available alternative placements is “conducted on an ongoing basis.”
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Recommendation 15:
The Supreme Court of Canada, in Michel v. Graydon, which specifically deals with the B.C. Family Law Act, discusses principles that apply to the interpretation of statutes which directly bear on the role of the B.C. Legislature in upholding children’s rights, including their participation rights. The concurring judgment states: (1) that the Legislature is presumed to take into account Canada’s international obligations, which includes those found in the CRC (at para. 103); and (2) that the Legislature is taken to know the social and historical context in which it makes its intention known (at para. 97). The literature, taking an approach consistent with these principles, suggests that the Legislature plays a critical role in implementing children’s right to participate effectively in court processes. Though many important legislative, regulatory and policy steps have been taken, the literature identifies several others that are necessary to meet B.C.’s obligations to children in family law and child welfare processes. They include the specific incorporation of the CRC in both the FLA and the CFCSA, ensuring that both court processes incorporate procedural safeguards and guarantees, making sure that children in court processes are fully informed of their participatory rights and allowing children to apply for declarations relating to their best interests.
In addition, specific legislative changes and clarifications are necessary in the FLA and the CFCSA. For the FLA, these include a review of the following sections: s. 37(1) (b), views of the child; the s. 1 definition of family violence (to clarify that intent is not required); s. 203, dealing with legal representation; s. 199, dealing with conflict and family violence; and s. 37(2)(j), considering any other civil or criminal proceeding. For the CFCSA, amendments are required which provide the legal advice and representation children require throughout the processes, as well as specific provisions relating to hearing children’s views.
In addition, specific legislative changes and clarifications are necessary in the FLA and the CFCSA. For the FLA, these include a review of the following sections: s. 37(1) (b), views of the child; the s. 1 definition of family violence (to clarify that intent is not required); s. 203, dealing with legal representation; s. 199, dealing with conflict and family violence; and s. 37(2)(j), considering any other civil or criminal proceeding. For the CFCSA, amendments are required which provide the legal advice and representation children require throughout the processes, as well as specific provisions relating to hearing children’s views.
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Recommendation 90:
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs in collaboration with the Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Division at the Ministry of Attorney General should consider creating a BC Ministry of Immigration to improve its accountability and ability to respond to changes in immigration paradigms. This is particularly critical to provide a more intersectional response in designing and improving settlement services for students, refugees, and other types of People of African Descent immigrants.
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Recommendation 13:
The language used in high-risk cases must be clarified to delineate between high conflict cases and cases with the presence of violence to ensure the appropriate safeguards are put into place to protect and promote children’s participation (Martinson & Raven, 2020a, 2020b; Brown, Findlay, Martinson, & Williams, 2021).
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Recommendation 2:
The importance of a National Action Plan cannot be overstated in terms of establishing national standards and strengthening the systems that respond to gender-based violence. However, at the same time, a key element of success will be ongoing engagement, collaboration and knowledge sharing with regions and communities, to reflect the diversity of needs, challenges and efforts across the nation. To do this, it will be important to link with and build on the work and expertise of existing provincial not-for-profit organizations in engaging and supporting local communities and in developing provincial-level strategies.
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Recommendation 40:
The federal government must guarantee:
- Access to clean drinking water; food security based on a traditional diet; critical infrastructure including roads and sanitation systems; and essential health, education, child care, housing, transport, recreational, cultural, and emergency services on every reserve.
- Safe, affordable, and livable housing for every woman on her reserve that is independent of her matrimonial status.
- Affordable child care and licensed day care options on every reserve.
- Complete complement of maternal and infant/child health services on reserve to enable women to remain closer to home to give birth.
- Free public transportation between each town and city located along the entire length of Highway 16 and all other highways, with a number of safe homes and emergency phone booths along the length of all the highways.
- Increase funding on all reserves for programs and services that strengthen traditional and cultural knowledge grounded in Indigenous laws, values, and practices.
- Range of anti-violence services including preventive programs, crisis intervention, victim services, advocacy support, restorative justice circles, shelters, transitional housing, and second-stage housing on every reserve.
- Cultural sensitivity training for all first responders such as police, healthcare professionals, and social workers who assist survivors of violence on reserve.
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- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Culture and language ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Emergency response ,
- Gender-based violence ,
- Health ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Housing and homelessness ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Pre-natal care ,
- Public services ,
- Sexism
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Recommendation 21:
The BC Human Rights Commission to prioritize stigma-auditing areas of law and policy that most directly impact highly stigmatized populations including sex workers in areas such as:
- Public space governance,
- Income assistance and disability policy,
- Housing policy and residential tenancy law,
- Child welfare law and policy,
- Policing law and policy,
- Health policy related to mental health and substance use,
- Privacy law as it relates to people who live in public spaces and people who are criminalized as a result of poverty and substance use.
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- Ableism ,
- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Economic inequality ,
- Gender-based violence ,
- Health ,
- Housing and homelessness ,
- Income insecurity and benefits ,
- Mental health and detention ,
- Other ,
- Policing ,
- Policing and the criminal justice system ,
- Poverty ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Privacy ,
- Public services ,
- Sexism ,
- Tenancy rights ,
- Workers’ rights
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Recommendation 21:
The BC government and MCFD should work with Indigenous communities to fund and develop comprehensive services for families that are experiencing violence including services for abusive men and services for the entire family. These services should address intersecting needs including historical trauma, parenting skills, and substance use.
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- Accessibility ,
- Accessible services and technology ,
- Decolonization and Indigenous rights ,
- Disability and parenting ,
- Discrimination and hate ,
- Gender-based violence ,
- Health ,
- Health, wellness and services ,
- Housing and homelessness ,
- Indigenous children and youth in care ,
- Poverty and economic inequality ,
- Public services ,
- Substance use
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Recommendation 20:
The BC government and MCFD must fund and resource supportive housing alternatives where parents and children who are at risk of harm can live. These homes should be specifically qualified to address complex family circumstances. Creative housing solutions where caregivers and children can stay together while receiving wrap-around support are especially needed in remote areas.
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Recommendation 3:
the Alberta Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA), provides that the best interests of the child assessment requires decision makers to provide children who have been exposed to family violence any intervention service that “supports family members and prevents the need to remove the child from the custody of an abused family member.” This is a key framing of some of the programming needed to address family violence in the case of the child welfare system and is the approach that many Indigenous community-based family service organizations electively employ to keep families together. We recommend that similar language is included in the defnition of the best interests of the child principle that directs decision-makers to turn their mind to prevention-based supports in assessing the right of the child to be protected from harm.
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