10 - Sunday, Juae 4, 1989 - North Shore News

Progress made for better
representation for women

AFTER SEVERAL years of pushing for better legal repre-
sentation for women in the family court system, the North
Shore Court Committee is finally beginning to get a

response from the provincial government,

according to

committee chair Salim Kaderali.

Between March and September
of 1987, only two of the 107
women that appeared before the
family courts had legal council.
Kaderali said these statistics have
not changed, but a funding com-
mitment from the provincial gov-
ernment will make more women cl-
igible for legal aid.

Grants announced in the release
of the most recent Provincial
budget will increase the minimum
level of annual income to $14,000
for legal aid applicants.

The funding promise came after
family court recommendations
were adopted by the provincial
Justice Reform Commission, who
summarized the problem in a
report released last November.

“If a woman in this situation is
unrepresented, she must make the
application, prepare her case, ex-
amine her witnesses.... Sometimes
she simply gives up in the face of
such a prospect," reads the report.

During a presentation to North
Shore municipal councils, Kaderali
said the courts and the provincial
government have responded posi-
tively to many of the recommenda-
tions made by the committee in its
report to the Justice Reform
Commission,

According to Kaderali, most of
the cases appearing in the family
courts deal with setting of enforc-
ing child support payments. Onc
of the key criticisms forwarded by
the North Shore committee is
directed at the attitude of the
courts toward setting the level of
child support payments.

“Kt is the fceling of the commit-
tee that the awards have been bas-
ed on the man's abiliiy to pay
rather than the actual cost of rais-
ing a child,’* reads the recommen-
dation of the family court commit-
ive.

In response, the justice commis-
sion has recommended that a study
be undertaken to determine the ac-
tual cost of supporting a child. and
that the results be made available

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By CORINNE BIORGE

Contributing Writer

to judges and lawyers.

Kaderali also praised the recent-
ly introduced enforcement pro-
gram that allows authorities to
garnish wages to retrieve overdue
child support payments.

“*Ht’s beautiful,’’ he said.

But the program has already de-
veloped a big backlog of appli-
cants, he said, and the provincial
government has not addressed the
problem with increased funding.

“We didn't notice anything in
the budget for that,’ he said.

Last year, the North Shore fami-
ly court committee expanded its
responsibilities to include examin-
ing the youth justice system, and it
has forwarded criticisms to the
justice commission on the courts’
approach to young offenders.

Kaderali criticized the commun

ty service means of punishing
young offenders.

“It has turned out
farce,"” he said.

“They’re given something like
four months to do the task, the
type of community service is left
open...and then some of these
youths are missing school to com-
plete their tasks,’ saia Kaderali.

More personnel and more follow
up are needed, he said.

And the social work that usually
complements the sentencing, which
includes alcohol and drug
rehabilitation programs, is inade-
quate because of poor funding.

“Particularly on the North
Shore, there are hardly any facili-
ties. They have to go down to
Vancouver (for counselling),”’ said
Kaderali.

But rather than shifting all the
blame to the court system,
Kaderali. said the North Shore
committee has emphasized that
education plays an important role.

“The school curricutum does
not prescribe that the child know
his rights and responsibilities,"

to be a

See Court
Page 12

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