A historical article (1999) with regards to Ottawa Family Court..Has anything changed? You be the Judge....
continued...
April/May 1999
Ottawa City Magazine
And justice for none
Family court in Ottawa is getting a face-lift but the deep scars in the system may be too hard to erase
By Lynne Cohen
NORM CHRISTIE returned home from work one day in January two years ago, tired but eager to cook hamburgers for his seven-year-old twins' birthday party. Instead of the standard welcome - his three children charging at him, squealing in excitement Christie got the shock of his life. "My wife and kids were gone," he painfully recalls. "As many of the house contents as she could fit in a van were gone too. A note was left saying to call a specific lawyer."
So began the Christie family's perilous journey through Ottawa's family-justice system, a journey still incomplete and one that will almost certainly not end in justice. Users of local family courts - including many lawyers and up to ten per cent of the 2,000 residents who commence divorce proceedings annually - complain vociferously that the system destroys lives. "Our experience has been catastrophic," says Christie, whose children went almost five months without seeing him after his wife com¬pletely denied access. "I have no respect for it"
It is not hard to understand why Christie, a First World War historian, feels the courts have let him down so badly. There is a strong argument that an anti-male gender bias drives the system despite dramatic changes in society - resulting, for example, in more fathers seeking custody of their children. To make matters worse, problems plague every level and corner of Ottawa's family-law regime, from the glassed-in judges' chambers on the fifth floor of the Ottawa Courthouse at 161 Elgin, down to the inept lawyers who mishandle cases, right into the cold hearts of angry, intransigent clients who exploit their own helpless children to get revenge on their exes. And instead of easing the agony, the growing number of well intentioned but largely unskilled mediators, lawyers and psychologists - who try to play referee between couples groping for a settlement - often make things worse.
Sound hopeless? It probably is, but governments persist in trying to repair the mess anyway. The latest and most anxiously awaited fix is the long-promised Unified Family Court (UFC), tentatively scheduled to be up and running before 2000 in Ottawa. Five UFCs are already functioning in London, Kingston, Barrie, Napanee and Hamilton. Hamilton's UFC, the model, was established in 1977.
One feature of a UFC is that it will allow its judges to rule on property matters - something they are forbidden to do under the Canadian constitution. That has meant that many divorcing couples have had to go before two separate courts to settle all matters - one court that has jurisdiction over support, custody and some other issues and one that can rule on all divorce issues, including property. The two-court system has largely represented extra paperwork, ceremonial gowning - and additional billable hours. In fact, except for the cost, most clients have not been unduly burdened by the dual system, if they even realized it existed. Both courts have been housed in the same building since they moved into the new courthouse in 1987. All of which begs the question: Why would anyone care whether the judges holding their lives in balance are federally or provincially appointed?
Still, there are arguments in favour of the UFC system. Ottawa's UFC, like the ones already established elsewhere, will presumably comprise an assortment of efficiencies: one judge for each file, psychological assessment to determine parental fitness and children's wishes, and counselling referrals, among other things. As well, it may oblige couples to undergo mediation - that is, to discuss and try to resolve their differences and demands before they head for court. For these reasons, although there is no chance the UFC system will make divorce an enjoyable experience, it should make the process less expensive and drawn out
Sure, it all sounds good on paper, but the question remains: Will a UFC finally start meting out true justice to Ottawa's disintegrating families? The answer depends on whom you ask.
"It's long overdue," says University of Ottawa family-law professor Julien Payne, who, as Canada's UFC architect, wrote a 900-page general blueprint for the system in 1973. Although the establishment of UFCS has been stymied by inevitable power struggles between the provinces and the federal government, Payne has been gratified over the past two decades to watch them spring up in one form or another across the country. "It eliminates fragmentation. It reduces costs and time," he says. "My perception is that UFCs have been popular wherever they've been established."
Charles Farrauto, president of Kids Need Both Parents, doesn't see things that way. "The UFC is absolutely no different [from] any other court. Maybe you can get into court quicker, but it doesn't speed you along once you're in," he says. As a user in and out of Hamilton's UFC almost forty times in the past nine years, Farrauto maintains that the promised one-judge-per-case scenario just doesn't wash in practice. "Can I say this? That's bullshit," he says, grumbling that he has been before just about every judge and has spent more than $100,000 since he first went to court.
His dramatic story began in 1990. "I came home one day and realized my key didn't work in the door. There was a note [from my common-law wife] saying I'd never see my daughter again. It tore my heart out." Between then and now, he has endured it all: allegations of sexual and physical abuse (which a judge finally ruled were false in October 1995), five months straight without seeing his daughter and the loss of everything he owned. "I'm on welfare, but I still have to go back to court again this year."
Ottawa City Magazine
And justice for none
Family court in Ottawa is getting a face-lift but the deep scars in the system may be too hard to erase
By Lynne Cohen
NORM CHRISTIE returned home from work one day in January two years ago, tired but eager to cook hamburgers for his seven-year-old twins' birthday party. Instead of the standard welcome - his three children charging at him, squealing in excitement Christie got the shock of his life. "My wife and kids were gone," he painfully recalls. "As many of the house contents as she could fit in a van were gone too. A note was left saying to call a specific lawyer."
So began the Christie family's perilous journey through Ottawa's family-justice system, a journey still incomplete and one that will almost certainly not end in justice. Users of local family courts - including many lawyers and up to ten per cent of the 2,000 residents who commence divorce proceedings annually - complain vociferously that the system destroys lives. "Our experience has been catastrophic," says Christie, whose children went almost five months without seeing him after his wife com¬pletely denied access. "I have no respect for it"
It is not hard to understand why Christie, a First World War historian, feels the courts have let him down so badly. There is a strong argument that an anti-male gender bias drives the system despite dramatic changes in society - resulting, for example, in more fathers seeking custody of their children. To make matters worse, problems plague every level and corner of Ottawa's family-law regime, from the glassed-in judges' chambers on the fifth floor of the Ottawa Courthouse at 161 Elgin, down to the inept lawyers who mishandle cases, right into the cold hearts of angry, intransigent clients who exploit their own helpless children to get revenge on their exes. And instead of easing the agony, the growing number of well intentioned but largely unskilled mediators, lawyers and psychologists - who try to play referee between couples groping for a settlement - often make things worse.
Sound hopeless? It probably is, but governments persist in trying to repair the mess anyway. The latest and most anxiously awaited fix is the long-promised Unified Family Court (UFC), tentatively scheduled to be up and running before 2000 in Ottawa. Five UFCs are already functioning in London, Kingston, Barrie, Napanee and Hamilton. Hamilton's UFC, the model, was established in 1977.
One feature of a UFC is that it will allow its judges to rule on property matters - something they are forbidden to do under the Canadian constitution. That has meant that many divorcing couples have had to go before two separate courts to settle all matters - one court that has jurisdiction over support, custody and some other issues and one that can rule on all divorce issues, including property. The two-court system has largely represented extra paperwork, ceremonial gowning - and additional billable hours. In fact, except for the cost, most clients have not been unduly burdened by the dual system, if they even realized it existed. Both courts have been housed in the same building since they moved into the new courthouse in 1987. All of which begs the question: Why would anyone care whether the judges holding their lives in balance are federally or provincially appointed?
Still, there are arguments in favour of the UFC system. Ottawa's UFC, like the ones already established elsewhere, will presumably comprise an assortment of efficiencies: one judge for each file, psychological assessment to determine parental fitness and children's wishes, and counselling referrals, among other things. As well, it may oblige couples to undergo mediation - that is, to discuss and try to resolve their differences and demands before they head for court. For these reasons, although there is no chance the UFC system will make divorce an enjoyable experience, it should make the process less expensive and drawn out
Sure, it all sounds good on paper, but the question remains: Will a UFC finally start meting out true justice to Ottawa's disintegrating families? The answer depends on whom you ask.
"It's long overdue," says University of Ottawa family-law professor Julien Payne, who, as Canada's UFC architect, wrote a 900-page general blueprint for the system in 1973. Although the establishment of UFCS has been stymied by inevitable power struggles between the provinces and the federal government, Payne has been gratified over the past two decades to watch them spring up in one form or another across the country. "It eliminates fragmentation. It reduces costs and time," he says. "My perception is that UFCs have been popular wherever they've been established."
Charles Farrauto, president of Kids Need Both Parents, doesn't see things that way. "The UFC is absolutely no different [from] any other court. Maybe you can get into court quicker, but it doesn't speed you along once you're in," he says. As a user in and out of Hamilton's UFC almost forty times in the past nine years, Farrauto maintains that the promised one-judge-per-case scenario just doesn't wash in practice. "Can I say this? That's bullshit," he says, grumbling that he has been before just about every judge and has spent more than $100,000 since he first went to court.
His dramatic story began in 1990. "I came home one day and realized my key didn't work in the door. There was a note [from my common-law wife] saying I'd never see my daughter again. It tore my heart out." Between then and now, he has endured it all: allegations of sexual and physical abuse (which a judge finally ruled were false in October 1995), five months straight without seeing his daughter and the loss of everything he owned. "I'm on welfare, but I still have to go back to court again this year."
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