NWT MLAs Ramsey and Braden speak for Equal Parenting, 2006-11-01 (?) Transcript  

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Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell supplementary Mr. Ramsey:

Mr. Ramsey:
Yes thank you Mr. speaker, Mr. speaker CHILDREN NEED BOTH PARENTS  in their lives.   I think that’s UN-deniable, and under our current system and legislation, there’s just far too many cases of parents, and fathers specifically being denied access to their, to their children, and I’d like the minister to let this house know what exact measures is the government taking to see to it that fathers are not denied access to their children and what forms of mediation is available for divorcing couples so that neither parent is ever denied access to those children. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Ramsey, a couple of questions there, I will allow the Minister to answer one or both, Mr. Bell

Mr. Bell:
Thank you M. speaker, a number of questions the Divorce Act,  a federal Act, doesn’t stipulate anywhere that fathers are at a disadvantage, but I think we know Mr. speaker that there should never be a case that in terms of custody where one parent or the other receives a better advantage just because they happen to be mother or father, Mr. speaker that’s not the way this should work, so, but I think that the larger issue is one of the adversarial nature of the process right now and the needs to look at other vehicles like mediation, we do have a mediation project that we are interested in pursuing here in the NWT, it hasn’t been under way for very long, I think were getting some encouraging results Mr. speaker, but it is important that we continue to discuss these and other options, or trying to remove this from the very litigious, adversarial nature of the process that we see today. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell supplementary Mr. Ramsey

Mr. Ramsey:
Yes thank you Mr. speaker, Mr. speaker I’d like to ask the Minister if he can make a commitment to look at our family law practices here in the Northwest Territories, to ensure that there is fair methods of mediation, and that both parents are being treated fairly, and I’d like to ask the Minister if he would make a commitment today to perhaps set up a Joint Committee, could be some regular members of this house, and the minister to go over some long outstanding files, to ensure that there is fairness and that both parents are being treated fairly and the children are being treated fairly. Thank you Mr.. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Bell

Brendan Bell:
Mr. speaker there’s a lot of merit and a lot of value in pursuing more mediation options, I’d certainly be prepared to come forward to the standing committee, and sit down and discuss some possibilities going forward, and have a discussion with these issues, I think it is important, so yes I’ll make a commitment, what vehicle that ultimately takes, I supposed will be determined by the discussions that we have. Thank you

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell, final supplementary Mr. Ramsey.

Mr. Ramsey:
Thank you Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister if he could put a time frame around this, and I think it is very important that we get this movement off the ground as soon as possible so that people aren’t out there suffering and children aren’t allowed to suffer by not having the visitations of both parents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell:
Thank you Mr. speaker, I am certainly available in November to come forward after session here, sit down with committee and discuss these options, I agree we need to make sure that in these custody situations the parents who don’t have custody, have as much access to their children as is possible Mr. speaker, and obviously we have to make sure that the interest of the children are paramount, but I agree with the member that the child’s interest are best served by having both parents. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. ??, oral questions the Honourable member from Great Slave Mr. Braden:

Mr. Braden:
Thank you Mr. Speaker my questions today are for the Honourable Brendan Bell and they follow on the foot steps of questions of my colleague Mr. Ramsey was asking in relation to family law, divorce and the consequences for children. Mr. Speaker as the minister of Justice Mr. Bell has considerable opportunity to work with his colleagues from other Provinces and Territories and the federal government of course, and a number of legal issues and I wanted to ask weather the issue of divorce, separation law and of course the consequences of children come up for debate, are they on the radar screen Mr. Speaker at the F. P. T. level.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Braden, the Honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell:
Mr. Speaker its been maybe a month since I attended FPT Justice in Newfoundland, it had the chance to raise this issue with a number of my colleagues, it was not formally on the agenda to be debated, I think there were three or four main topic areas, members will remember much of it around the new governments tough on crime agenda, very much the situation where the federal government determines the issues of the day to be debated and discussed, but I do know the federal minister has this on his personal radar, is interested in talking about possibly some changes that could alleviate some of the concern, a number of other of provincial jurisdictions have similar concerns, how we go forward, I think Mr. Speaker, we can discuss that, I can certainly write letters to my provincial colleagues, and ask them if they would like seek to get this formally on the agenda, but I do believe that there is an interest in resolving some of these issues, primarily getting these issues from the courts and into mediation where they can be probably more constructively dealt with. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell, supplementary Mr. Braden

Mr. Braden:
Yes, thank you Mr. Speaker, and on behalf of some constituents and concerns that were brought before me, where the courts do have to get involved, and that is a reality that we have to face, that the courts are not subjected to the kinds of bias that has surfaced in so many areas, Mr. Speaker, divorce law of course is the jurisdiction of the federal government, and when couples, when relationships break down, and they go to court there’s so often there is a win loose scenario, we’ve talked about mediation and helping to avoid that, I wanted to ask the Minister where the law itself is federal but we have a social support services network here, what can we do to influence the outcomes so that they are not so confrontational not so win loose, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Braden, Mr. Bell:

Brendan Bell:
Well as I said, Mr. Speaker, I think alternative dispute resolutions mechanisms are important, they are critical, I’ve said earlier I believe the problem is so much with how the law is written, but the problems creep up when the law is applied, I think we need to do what we can to insure that counseling is available in our jurisdiction but as I say, anything we can do to try to deal with these issues before they come to the courts, I think is the most constructive approach. By the time you are that far down the road, the parties have been back and forth and it’s very adversarial sometimes the damage has been done at that point Mr. Speaker, so I think the best approach is to try to deal with these things outside the courts. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell, supplementary Mr. Braden.

Mr. Braden:
Thank you Mr. Speaker, our society, the dynamics of our economies, our communities, our family relationships are changing very very rapidly, we have some enormous potentially disruptive economic projects ahead of us, our physical environment is changing very rapidly, education rates, so many things are changing around us Mr. Speaker, yet we have a body of family law and policy that may not be up to the times, and may not be up to what were going to be facing and dealing with, Mr. Speaker is it time for us to look at a comprehensive review of our family laws and policies and practices, with a special eye for systemic biases, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Braden, Mr. Bell.

Brendan Bell:
Mr. Speaker that’s certainly a valid suggestion, I know that this government has been doing some work with the federal government behind the scenes to look at ways that they can seek to change the system, I believe the government before this one also has an interest in advancing some of those principals and making some reforms, Mr. Speaker I think the best approach though is to gage the level of interest with my provincial colleagues talk about how we might move with this, a comprehensive law review obviously takes allot of time, and it is federal jurisdiction, so I think in the mean time we need to do some things to make sure that we have mediation options available for couples and parents going through these issues, but law review may be where we need to go and I think it’s best to gage the interest of the other jurisdictions and that we certainly cannot drive it alone. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker:
Thank you Mr. Bell, Thank you Mr. Braden, before we go on….