By Dale Woodard on February 22, 2022.
For many Alberta families and children caught up in lengthy legal battles, Family Day is not a holiday
With Family Day just around the corner on Monday, Elizabeth Turner, an Edmonton-based family attorney for Alberta Legal Aid, said there are more custody battles around these family holidays
“As you can imagine, co-parenting is difficult at the best of times, but there’s a lot of tension around the holidays,” Turner said. “So when things come to a head, they usually turn to holidays.”
The courts dealt with dividing holidays or arranging holidays because they involved important family time, Turner said.
“So if you don’t get along with your co-parent, if you can’t mediate or negotiate a compromise, go to court to sort that out.”
Turner works specifically with the LAA’s family law department.
“There is a separate department that deals specifically with criminal matters and bail. But in my office we deal with family law matters, which means divorce, parenting, child support and things like that. We also deal with child protection matters, so we typically represent parents on child protection matters who are involved in litigation with the department’s children’s services.”
LAA also has attorneys representing children
“So in these conflicted family files, we are meant to represent the children in the conflict. That brings her voice to court in a variety of capacities,” Turner said. “We also have a lawyer who also handles immigration matters. So we have a lot to do.”
Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic of the past two years has made these family feuds that much more stressful.
Because of the pandemic, almost everyone is having to wait longer for their case to be tried or resolved in court.
All Albertans with outstanding legal matters have experienced persistent delays in family courts. Many matters were adjourned, sometimes several times
“In this climate, we certainly see that people are stressed and there is an increase in conflict between parties due to numerous pressures, be they financial, personal or parental conflicts,” Turner said. “So we’re dealing with that and trying to help people find their way through these conflicts and certainly it ends up in court cases as well because people are concerned about the changing rules and restrictions and how they are with their family.” handle dynamically.”
With those delays in court, Turner said they had to pivot when things changed.
“The court comes with the restrictions that require all non-urgent matters not to go to court or you cannot be present in person for certain things,” she said. “So we’ve certainly had a back-up of cases in the court system at various times, and just when you’re working off a backlog there’s another caveat that we’ve had to postpone a lot of court cases, especially when they’re not deemed urgent by the court.”
Turner said she also sees family court cases surrounding vaccination disputes, where one parent advocates for their child’s vaccination while the other disagrees
“Across the country there is new case law dealing with such issues. It’s quite specific and fact specific, so each judge will look at the facts of the case and one of the tests they use is what is in the child’s best interest. Here the judges have to make that decision one way or another.”
In a statement from the LAA, Turner said many of her files currently involve some level of domestic violence
“With that we could see that a person needs to flee domestic violence or a situation where a child has been placed in protective custody.”
Because of public health measures that oblige people to stay at home, many people find themselves trapped with an abusive partner or family member
As mandates and restrictions are gradually lifted, individuals may find it easier to get in touch with LAA to help, as no one is constantly watching their every move
“Someone who has an abusive spouse who works from home and is now returning to the office may have easier access to resources to help them escape domestic violence,” Turner said
Turner said people who need an emergency response order are given top priority at Legal Aid Alberta
Emergency Response Order (EPO) assistance is available at 780-422-9222 in Edmonton and 403-297-5260 in Calgary
People living outside of these areas are advised to call the police at any time or to go to the nearest courthouse during business hours
Individuals seeking legal aid with a family law issue may call the LAA Contact Center at 1-866-845-3425
“You have to qualify financially and answer questions like that. But if they are in the spirit of emergency preparedness orders, they can call us to help them through the process.”
Turner said it’s a three-step process, and legal counsel will help with the first two steps for free
“They can call these numbers to make an application and they can speak to our attorney who can help them apply for an EPA during regular business hours, or they can call the Justice of the Peace directly through the courts outside of business hours. But our attorney will help you apply to the provincial court for Step 1, then the judge will decide whether the EPO will stand.”
Step two is a review by the EPO in the Court of Queen’s bench.
“Legal aid helps all applicants at the EPO and even the respondent gets legal counsel and if there are conflicting stories at step 2 it goes to the hearing which is step 3,” Turner said. “There it is finally decided whether it should stay a year or not.”
“When people need help, these resources are there, and if they’re in an emergency situation, they should call 911.”
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