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Articles 121 - 133 of 133

Full-Text Articles in Family Law

Revisiting The Handmaid’S Tale: Feminist Theory Meets Empirical Research On Surrogate Mothers, Karen Busby, Delaney Vun Jan 2010

Revisiting The Handmaid’S Tale: Feminist Theory Meets Empirical Research On Surrogate Mothers, Karen Busby, Delaney Vun

Canadian Journal of Family Law

After briefly reviewing laws on surrogate motherhood in Canada, the United States, and Britain, the authors consider nearly 40 empirical research studies on the characteristics and experiences of women who have been surrogate mothers. Empiricism meets feminist theory as we revisit arguments against surrogacy arrangements, including the inability to give informed consent, the inherently exploitative nature of the arrangements, and the dangers of commodification. In light of our observations based on the empirical research, we argue that it may be time to review Canadian surrogacy laws.


De-Anonymising Sperm Donors In Canada: Some Doubts And Directions, Angela Cameron, Vanessa Gruben, Fiona Kelly Jan 2010

De-Anonymising Sperm Donors In Canada: Some Doubts And Directions, Angela Cameron, Vanessa Gruben, Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This paper addresses whether sperm donor anonymity should continue in Canada and what the effects might be of abolishing anonymity, particularly for marginalized groups such as lesbian mothers. The first part of the paper outlines the legislative and historical context surrounding the donor anonymity debate in Canada. The second part of the paper addresses the interests of the various social and legal stakeholders, including donor conceived offspring, the social and biological parents of those offspring, and sperm donors. The final segment outlines a twofold law reform agenda. First, it is proposed that Canada prospectively abolish donor anonymity in an effort …


Réponse Jurisprudentielle À La Pratique Des Meres Porteuses Au Québec; Une Difficile Reconciliation, Louise Langevin Jan 2010

Réponse Jurisprudentielle À La Pratique Des Meres Porteuses Au Québec; Une Difficile Reconciliation, Louise Langevin

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Le présent article propose une analyse des récentes décisions des tribunaux québécois en matière de maternité de substitution. La jurisprudence interprète de façon très différente l'article 541 du Code civil, qui déclare nulles les conventions de maternité pour autrui. Mais semble se dessiner un courant en faveur d'une telle pratique, ce qui rejoint l'état du droit dans les provinces canadiennes. Le législateur devra donc clarifier les paramètres de la pratique des mères porteuses, puisque trop de questions sont laissées en suspend par les décisions récentes. L'auteure dénonce le discours d'égalité et d'altruisme présenté comme fondement à cette pratique. À …


Access To Assisted Conception: A Call For Legislative Reform In Light Of The Modern Family (Susan Doe V. Attorney General Of Canada), Lisa Feldstein Jan 2010

Access To Assisted Conception: A Call For Legislative Reform In Light Of The Modern Family (Susan Doe V. Attorney General Of Canada), Lisa Feldstein

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This paper explores the impact of laws regarding assisted conception and the discriminatory effect these laws have in light of non-traditional family forms. Specifically, it considers the Processing and Distribution of Semen for Assisted Conception Regulations and how these regulations serve to exclude certain individuals who do not fit into the "traditional" nuclear family model. The author critiques the judgement of Susan Doe v. Attorney General of Canada and calls for legislative reform in order for the laws to accurately reflect realities of the family in the 21st century.


Navigating Potentially Conflicting Political Rationalities: Discursive Strategies About “Family” In Alberta’S Child Welfare Law, Joshua Friedstadt Jan 2010

Navigating Potentially Conflicting Political Rationalities: Discursive Strategies About “Family” In Alberta’S Child Welfare Law, Joshua Friedstadt

Canadian Journal of Family Law

This paper empirically investigates how lawmakers navigate family law's contested terrain. Using Alberta's newest child welfare law, the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (2004) as a case, I explain the discursive strategies used to pass this unique law through a socio-political context dominated by political rationalities with partially divergent ideas of "family." Analysis reveals two dominant discursive strategies. The first creates a discursive framework that expels welfarist rationalities and centers tensional neoliberal and neoconservative logics. The second navigates the tensions between neoliberal and neoconservative images of family by constituting the content of families as autonomous and responsible while leaving …


The Best Interests Of Children: An Evidence-Based Approach By Paul Millar, Gene C. Coleman Jan 2010

The Best Interests Of Children: An Evidence-Based Approach By Paul Millar, Gene C. Coleman

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.


Front Matter Jan 2010

Front Matter

Canadian Journal of Family Law

No abstract provided.


Access Barred: The Effects Of The Cuts And Restructuring Of Legal Aid In B.C. On Women Attempting To Navigate The Provincial Family Court System, Jaime Sarophim Jan 2010

Access Barred: The Effects Of The Cuts And Restructuring Of Legal Aid In B.C. On Women Attempting To Navigate The Provincial Family Court System, Jaime Sarophim

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Self-represented litigants are becoming an epidemic in the B.C. provincial court system. Litigants who lack legal training and knowledge about the formalities of the court often slow and disrupt the justice system. The cuts to legal aid and the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Christie have contributed to this epidemic. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the challenges that self-represented litigants pose to the family law justice system. The erosions to legal aid funding and services have had a disproportionately negative effect on women. It has forced women to become self-represented litigants, resulting in women's …


An Alternative Conception: The Legality Of Home Insemination Under Canada’S Assisted Reproduction Act, Fiona Kelly Jan 2010

An Alternative Conception: The Legality Of Home Insemination Under Canada’S Assisted Reproduction Act, Fiona Kelly

Canadian Journal of Family Law

Despite access to fertility clinics, at-home self-insemination with the sperm of a known donor is a common practice amongst lesbian and single women. Home insemination is understood to provide several advantages over conception at a fertility clinic, particularly given the federal prohibition on sperm donation by donors who have had sex with other men. Despite the prevalence of the practice, there is some doubt in Canada as to whether home insemination is legal. While the Assisted Human Reproduction Act ("AHRA") does not explicitly address home insemination, it could be interpreted as outlawing the practice. This article addresses the …


Incrementalism, Civil Unions, And The Possibility Of Predicting Legal Recognition Of Same-Sex Marriage, Erez Aloni Jan 2010

Incrementalism, Civil Unions, And The Possibility Of Predicting Legal Recognition Of Same-Sex Marriage, Erez Aloni

All Faculty Publications

Scholars who have examined the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships in European countries have concluded that the path to the legalization of same-sex marriage follows an incremental process involving specific stages. They suggest that it is possible to predict, based on certain visible social and legal processes or assessable parameters, which U.S. states will be the next to recognize same-sex marriage. These scholars argue that such small cumulative legal changes at the state level constitute the best means of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States, and that civil unions are a necessary step in this process. This article shows …


Le Droit Myope, Régine Tremblay Jan 2009

Le Droit Myope, Régine Tremblay

All Faculty Publications

Cet essai présente la violence conjugale comme un enjeu de droit privé et de droit public, comme une problématique qui se situe au confluent de ces deux catégories considérées comme mutuellement exclusives. L'évolution de la perception de I'homosexualité en droit public a transformé notre idée du couple en droit privé. Ceci remet en question notre façon de penser le couple, les individus qui le composent et la violence qui s'y produit.


Parental Separation And The Child Custody Decision: Toward A Reconception, David G. Duff, Roxanne Mykitiuk Jan 1989

Parental Separation And The Child Custody Decision: Toward A Reconception, David G. Duff, Roxanne Mykitiuk

All Faculty Publications

Contemporary debates regarding the appropriate way to resolve custody and access disputes reflect deeply rooted conceptions of both the family and the proper relationship between the family and the state. The prevailing "best interests of the child" test and judicial presumptions favouring sole custody embody a traditional definition of the family and a communitarian image of familial relationships.Conversely, current joint custody legislation adopts a liberal-contractual paradigm, in which the family is viewed as a joint partnership and children are conceived as assets to be equally divided upon termination ofthe spousal relationship. The authors reject both notions of the family and …


The Supreme Court And The New Family Law: Working Through The Pelech Trilogy, David G. Duff Jan 1988

The Supreme Court And The New Family Law: Working Through The Pelech Trilogy, David G. Duff

All Faculty Publications

The trilogy of family law decisions, released by the Supreme Court of Canada on 4 June 1987, represents perhaps the most important statement of the past two decades by Canada's highest court on this rapidly changing area of law. Although decided under the repealed Divorce Act of 1968, judicial analyses of support and domestic contracts are likely to be little altered under the 1985 Act. Furthermore, that these cases reveal the Court's underlying philosophy of the new family law as a whole suggests a significance that transcends specific amendments to the Act. With respect to the outcome of each individual …