QUESTION PERIOD — Justice
Divorce Act
September 25, 2024
My question is for the Government Representative. This spring, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls urged countries, including Canada, to legislate to stop accusations of parental alienation from being admissible in family court. She explained that this discredited, unscientific pseudo-concept is often used by fathers as a tool to continue their abuse against their partners and children by blaming mothers’ evidence of abuse for their negative relationships with their children. Using family alienation as a factor, courts across Canada are forcing children to live with their violent fathers with negative and dangerous consequences.
Senator Gold, mothers and children deserve to be safe and free from this court-imposed abuse. Will the Minister of Justice and this government commit to implementing the UN recommendation by amending the Divorce Act to render accusations of parental alienation inadmissible in court?
Thank you for your question and for underlining this situation that affects too many faced with the breakdown of their families and the violence, intimidation and coercion that too often follows.
I am not aware of the current status of the review of the Divorce Act and these particular recommendations, but I will raise it with the minister when I see him as early as next week.
Thank you very much for that answer. When you are with the minister, would you urge him to treat this with the highest priority and urgency it deserves?
I will certainly pass on the sense of urgency.
