Pascal Paradis(l), the head of Lawyers Without Borders Canada, sits with Gervais Charles, Bâtonnier of the Port-au-
Prince law society, last month as they leaf through an agreement they had just signed.
PHOTO COUR TESY OF LWB CANADA
Devastation may help with reform
Haiti
Continued From Page 1
2008, 88 per cent of the country’s
316 incarcerated juveniles had
been held three years without
charges or trial, added to the
report. Indeed, LWB Canada was
operating in Haiti for the last four
years teaching, among other
things, human rights at the Université d’État d’Haïti.
But there is a glimmer of hope,
with many legal experts believing
that the devastation has given the
impoverished country a chance to
reform its judiciary. Following an
agreement that the Canadian
non-profit organization signed
with the Port-au-Prince law society, LWB Canada is now in the
midst of helping to implement a
“transitional system of emergency
justice shelters,” operating out of
tents, that can be quickly deployed
in the country’s desolate communities and dismal shelters littered across Haiti’s capital while
giving the nation’s formal justice a
chance to be rebuilt. The frontline
justice system is anchored by
trained local jurists who give legal
information and advice, and local
judges who issue emergency safeguard orders and mediate disputes between parties.
The agreement also calls for the
Canadian organization to help
recruit legal aid lawyers, give a
lending hand to develop educational materials and information
to the public as well as offer professional development courses on
ethics, international law, criminal
law and alternative dispute resolution processes and techniques
such as mediation and arbitration.
“We are sending Canadian
experts to assist and help them
respond to emergency situations
but we also hope that they will
apply the new ways of doing
things to avoid falling back into
the excesses or problems of the
past,” said Paradis. “But it’s
important with such efforts to be
attentive to their needs.”
Shortly after Paradis and his
team got back from Port-au-Prince
early this month, a roundtable with
a slew of organizations met in
Ottawa to discuss ways that they
could collaborate to help reform
the Haitian legal system. Held in
Ottawa, the conference was organ-
ized by the Office of the Commis-
sioner for Federal Judicial Affairs
Canada (OCFJAC), an organiza-
tion established in 1978 to safe-
guard the independence of the
judiciary. Besides LWB Canada,
the federal and provincial justice
departments were present as was
the Association of Court Adminis-
trators, Canadian Bar Association
(CBA), Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA), the
Barreau de Montréal, Federal
Court of Canada Justice Luc Marti-
neau, and Court of Quebec Associ-
ate Chief Justice Claude Boulanger.
Quotes of Pascal Paradis trans-
lated from French by the author.
CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA
The total number of new
divorce cases declined six per cent
in Ontario, B.C. and Nova Scotia
in the four-year period ending in
2008/2009, while the territories
experienced some year-to-year
fluctuations. (Data from Alberta
and the Northwest Territories
were not available on this point.)
Most divorce cases proceeding
through court were uncontested.
In the seven reporting provinces
and territories, an answer had
been filed in just 19 per cent of all
active divorce cases in 2008/2009.
Contested cases ranged considerably, from lows of zero per cent in
Nunavut and two per cent in
Yukon to a high of 26 per cent in
Alberta. Of the approximately
53,000 active divorce cases in
Ontario, 18 per cent had a statement of defence on file. Of nearly
21,000 active divorce cases in
B.C., 16 per cent had a statement
of defence on file.
The findings from the agency’s
civil court survey indicate that
one or more of the issues of
access, custody, property and
support were identified in at least
34 per cent of all active divorce
cases in 2008/2009. The most
common issues were support and
property, each identified in about
80 per cent of cases where an
See Divorce Page 7
Divorce is declining in Canada
but nearly three-quarters of
couples still use lawyers to help
them go their separate ways, Statistics Canada says in a new report
on divorce.
According to the agency’s most
recent general social survey of
respondents in the 10 provinces,
nearly 600,000 Canadians
divorced between 2001 and 2006.
The services of a lawyer were used
by 72 per cent of divorced persons, while 35 per cent used
counselling services for either
themselves or their children. Conciliation, mediation or other
alternative dispute resolution services were used by 18 per cent of
respondents.
Almost one-half of recently
divorced individuals had at least
one child with a former spouse,
Statistics Canada says in the
report “The processing of divorce
cases through civil court in seven
provinces and territories.”
Released May 18, the report
indicates that in 2008/2009,
there were just over 56,100 new
divorce cases initiated in the
seven provinces and territories
which reported data to the
agency—Ontario, B.C., Alberta,
Nova Scotia, Yukon, Northwest
