
July 26, 2010
Lots of new material on the Family Law in BC website Effective July 1, 2010, new forms and processes apply to all civil and family law cases in Supreme Court. Since the new Supreme Court Family Rules simplify many family law court processes, LSS was able to update and simplify many of the self-help guides, fact sheets, and FAQ on the Family Law in BC website accordingly. We also created new materials. During the last week of June, we uploaded close to 200 new and revised pages and removed almost 600 pages from the Family Law in BC website. The new materials include: Five new self-help guides: How to get a copy of your marriage certificate How to fill out a Notice of Family Claim (Form F3) How to deal with a Judicial Case Conference How to get a final family order in Supreme Court if you agree How to serve Provincial Court documents One new guide to choosing the right self-help guide: Which guide should I choose? Is there a self-help guide for my situation? Three new fact sheets: Going to Supreme Court? Read this first! Old rules/New rules in Supreme Court Questions about the new Supreme Court Family Rules coming into effect July 1, 2010 Three new FAQ about the new Rules One new Sample completed Supreme Court forms page One new video about how to use the new Supreme Court forms The old Supreme Court child support guide and the Provincial Court support orders guide have been removed and are replaced by the guides listed under "Family orders" on the Self-help guides page. We've also removed the guide "How to deliver documents" and the fact sheet "The difference between serving and delivering documents" as they're no longer relevant. We removed all of the Supreme Court forms that used to be on our website and we now link directly to the PDF "smart forms" on the Attorney General's Court Services Branch (CSB) website. These "smart forms" are the first step towards true e-filing: eventually, users will be able to fill in documents online and have the court registries extract information directly into the courts' case management system. We've developed a pilot of an ongoing series of videos to help users understand how to use the forms. In the months to come, we'll develop more videos about the forms and add pop-up or hover text to each of the PDF forms on the CSB website to provide more detailed instructions to users on how to fill out the forms. Please e-mail us your comments on these videos and instructions, and let us know if you have questions about the new forms, so we can improve our materials as necessary. The Court forms page on the Family Law website has been updated to link to the new forms on the CSB website. The former Instructions for court forms page has been converted to a Sample completed Supreme Court forms page that provides links to sample completed forms on JP Boyd's Family Law Resource website. For more information and links to the new material, see the new fact sheet Going to Supreme Court? Read this first! Questions or comments? We'd love to hear them. Send the Family Law website project team an e-mail. Aboriginal Legal Services: Gladue report training for Aboriginal advocates Clients who self-identify as Aboriginal have rights under section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code, often referred to as Gladue rights. These rights apply to all Aboriginal people: status or non-status Indians, First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, as well as Aboriginal people living both on and off reserve. Gladue refers to the special consideration that judges must give an Aboriginal person when sentencing or setting bail for him or her: judges must keep in mind that Aboriginal offenders face special circumstances and, when sentencing, must consider all options other than jail. In order to apply Gladue, the judge needs to understand your client's circumstances, and to know what kinds of community sentences are available and how they will help your client. To help the judge, your client's lawyer needs to provide the court with a Gladue report. A Gladue report gives the judge, Crown counsel, and your client's lawyer as much information as possible about your client, including his or her background, education level, family history, and any history with substance abuse. It's important to note that a Gladue report is not the same as a pre-sentence report, which is done by a probation officer. Our fact sheet, Are You Aboriginal?, provides some questions that can help your client and his or her lawyer get started on preparing a Gladue report. This fall, the Aboriginal Legal Services program will be coordinating a training workshop for Aboriginal advocates on writing Gladue reports. The training, tentatively planned for late September or early October in the Terrace area, will provide both the practical aspects of and the theory behind preparing Gladue submissions. It will increase the capacity of Aboriginal organizations, communities, and First Nations to advocate for their members. The curriculum will include the history of the Gladue Supreme Court decision, interviewing skills, court procedures, restorative justice, First Nations court .and Aboriginal courts. Stay tuned for more information on this training opportunity. In the meantime, if you're interested in participating in Gladue competency training, please e-mail Pamela Shields, Aboriginal Services Program manager, Legal Services Society. Lawyers who are familiar with Gladue and are interested in being added to a Gladue referral roster are also encouraged to contact Pamela at the above e-mail address. Introducing Beatrix Josephy: Prince George local agent Beatrix Josephy, new Prince George local agent, was called to the bar in 1994 and has been practising law in Prince George for more than 15 years. Beatrix opened her new local agent office right across the street from the Prince George Courthouse on April 29, 2010. Her two staff members, Chantelle MacLeod and Frankie Stevenson provide intake services to clients at Beatrix's office and in the courthouse itself. (See Where to find a legal aid office and click on "Prince George" for the addresses, phone numbers, and hours of service.) Beatrix has an extensive background with helping British Columbians with low incomes access the justice system. Before going to law school, she spent four years as a legal information counsellor at the LSS Quesnel Community Law Office. In this role, she provided legal information and assistance to individuals who often suffered from a host of addiction or mental health issues. Beatrix derives great satisfaction from helping disadvantaged people access the justice system. "It is easy for the society at large to ignore the rights of, and take advantage of, poor and uneducated individuals, and providing legal aid services helps reduce the inequity these individuals face," Beatrix said. In addition to her background with the community law office, Beatrix has several other close ties to the community. She has associations with people and agencies that work closely with individuals who frequently have health issues or drug or alcohol addictions in addition to legal issues. These people and agencies include Phoenix Transition House; the local native courtworker, Donald Trudeau; Elizabeth Fry personnel; local drug and alcohol counsellors; administrators at the local Baldy Hughes Treatment Centre; and Positive Living North. Beatrix also has considerable experience working with Aboriginal clients. She is familiar with the unique challenges they often face, such as literacy issues and a multi-generational history of deprivation, violence, and substance abuse. When not busy with her work as a local agent, Beatrix spends time gardening, skiing, and mountain biking. Chantelle Macleod has worked for Beatrix as a legal assistant since February 2009. Outside of the office, she enjoys going for walks with her dogs, reading, and spending time with her family. Frankie Stevenson joined the office in April 2010 as a local agent assistant after working at Sprott Shaw Community College. She enjoys reading, gardening, sports, and spending time with her children. Have you checked out LSS on Twitter yet? Twitter is a quick and easy way for you to stay up-to-date on the latest news from LSS. Now that we've been using Twitter for a year, we have 235 followers (and counting) and have sent out 185 "tweets" on the latest LSS publications, website updates, newsletters, workshops (including workshops hosted by our community partners), media releases, and more. Twitter is a free, online, micro-blogging service. Posts, or "tweets," are limited to a maximum of 140 characters, giving a quick and easy way to provide updates on what you're doing and to stay connected with other people. We've been using Twitter as a fun way to stay connected to our staff, clients, advocates, lawyers, and community partners. You can follow our tweets, even if you don't have a Twitter account. Check us out at twitter.com/legalaidbc! If you have any ideas or suggestions for tweets or feedback on the Twitter content, please e-mail twitter@lss.bc.ca.

July 26, 2010

Lots of new material on the Family Law in BC website

Effective July 1, 2010, new forms and processes apply to all civil and family law cases in Supreme Court.

Since the new Supreme Court Family Rules simplify many family law court processes, LSS was able to update and simplify many of the self-help guides, fact sheets, and FAQ on the Family Law in BC website accordingly. We also created new materials.

During the last week of June, we uploaded close to 200 new and revised pages and removed almost 600 pages from the Family Law in BC website. The new materials include:

Five new self-help guides:
- How to get a copy of your marriage certificate
- How to fill out a Notice of Family Claim (Form F3)
- How to deal with a Judicial Case Conference
- How to get a final family order in Supreme Court if you agree
- How to serve Provincial Court documents
One new guide to choosing the right self-help guide: Which guide should I choose? Is there a self-help guide for my situation?
Three new fact sheets:
- Going to Supreme Court? Read this first!
- Old rules/New rules in Supreme Court
- Questions about the new Supreme Court Family Rules coming into effect July 1, 2010
Three new FAQ about the new Rules
One new Sample completed Supreme Court forms page
One new video about how to use the new Supreme Court forms

The old Supreme Court child support guide and the Provincial Court support orders guide have been removed and are replaced by the guides listed under "Family orders" on the Self-help guides page. We've also removed the guide "How to deliver documents" and the fact sheet "The difference between serving and delivering documents" as they're no longer relevant.

We removed all of the Supreme Court forms that used to be on our website and we now link directly to the PDF "smart forms" on the Attorney General's Court Services Branch (CSB) website. These "smart forms" are the first step towards true e-filing: eventually, users will be able to fill in documents online and have the court registries extract information directly into the courts' case management system.

We've developed a pilot of an ongoing series of videos to help users understand how to use the forms. In the months to come, we'll develop more videos about the forms and add pop-up or hover text to each of the PDF forms on the CSB website to provide more detailed instructions to users on how to fill out the forms. Please e-mail us your comments on these videos and instructions, and let us know if you have questions about the new forms, so we can improve our materials as necessary.

The Court forms page on the Family Law website has been updated to link to the new forms on the CSB website. The former Instructions for court forms page has been converted to a Sample completed Supreme Court forms page that provides links to sample completed forms on JP Boyd's Family Law Resource website.

For more information and links to the new material, see the new fact sheet Going to Supreme Court? Read this first!

Questions or comments? We'd love to hear them. Send the Family Law website project team an e-mail.

Aboriginal Legal Services: Gladue report training for Aboriginal advocates

Clients who self-identify as Aboriginal have rights under section 718.2 (e) of the Criminal Code, often referred to as Gladue rights. These rights apply to all Aboriginal people: status or non-status Indians, First Nations, Métis, or Inuit, as well as Aboriginal people living both on and off reserve. Gladue refers to the special consideration that judges must give an Aboriginal person when sentencing or setting bail for him or her: judges must keep in mind that Aboriginal offenders face special circumstances and, when sentencing, must consider all options other than jail.

In order to apply Gladue, the judge needs to understand your client's circumstances, and to know what kinds of community sentences are available and how they will help your client. To help the judge, your client's lawyer needs to provide the court with a Gladue report. A Gladue report gives the judge, Crown counsel, and your client's lawyer as much information as possible about your client, including his or her background, education level, family history, and any history with substance abuse. It's important to note that a Gladue report is not the same as a pre-sentence report, which is done by a probation officer. Our fact sheet, Are You Aboriginal?, provides some questions that can help your client and his or her lawyer get started on preparing a Gladue report.

This fall, the Aboriginal Legal Services program will be coordinating a training workshop for Aboriginal advocates on writing Gladue reports. The training, tentatively planned for late September or early October in the Terrace area, will provide both the practical aspects of and the theory behind preparing Gladue submissions. It will increase the capacity of Aboriginal organizations, communities, and First Nations to advocate for their members. The curriculum will include the history of the Gladue Supreme Court decision, interviewing skills, court procedures, restorative justice, First Nations court .and Aboriginal courts. Stay tuned for more information on this training opportunity.

In the meantime, if you're interested in participating in Gladue competency training, please e-mail Pamela Shields, Aboriginal Services Program manager, Legal Services Society. Lawyers who are familiar with Gladue and are interested in being added to a Gladue referral roster are also encouraged to contact Pamela at the above e-mail address.

Introducing Beatrix Josephy: Prince George local agent

Beatrix Josephy, new Prince George local agent, was called to the bar in 1994 and has been practising law in Prince George for more than 15 years. Beatrix opened her new local agent office right across the street from the Prince George Courthouse on April 29, 2010. Her two staff members, Chantelle MacLeod and Frankie Stevenson provide intake services to clients at Beatrix's office and in the courthouse itself. (See Where to find a legal aid office and click on "Prince George" for the addresses, phone numbers, and hours of service.)

Beatrix has an extensive background with helping British Columbians with low incomes access the justice system. Before going to law school, she spent four years as a legal information counsellor at the LSS Quesnel Community Law Office. In this role, she provided legal information and assistance to individuals who often suffered from a host of addiction or mental health issues. Beatrix derives great satisfaction from helping disadvantaged people access the justice system. "It is easy for the society at large to ignore the rights of, and take advantage of, poor and uneducated individuals, and providing legal aid services helps reduce the inequity these individuals face," Beatrix said.

In addition to her background with the community law office, Beatrix has several other close ties to the community. She has associations with people and agencies that work closely with individuals who frequently have health issues or drug or alcohol addictions in addition to legal issues. These people and agencies include Phoenix Transition House; the local native courtworker, Donald Trudeau; Elizabeth Fry personnel; local drug and alcohol counsellors; administrators at the local Baldy Hughes Treatment Centre; and Positive Living North. Beatrix also has considerable experience working with Aboriginal clients. She is familiar with the unique challenges they often face, such as literacy issues and a multi-generational history of deprivation, violence, and substance abuse.

When not busy with her work as a local agent, Beatrix spends time gardening, skiing, and mountain biking.
Chantelle Macleod has worked for Beatrix as a legal assistant since February 2009. Outside of the office, she enjoys going for walks with her dogs, reading, and spending time with her family.

Frankie Stevenson joined the office in April 2010 as a local agent assistant after working at Sprott Shaw Community College. She enjoys reading, gardening, sports, and spending time with her children.

Have you checked out LSS on Twitter yet?

Twitter is a quick and easy way for you to stay up-to-date on the latest news from LSS. Now that we've been using Twitter for a year, we have 235 followers (and counting) and have sent out 185 "tweets" on the latest LSS publications, website updates, newsletters, workshops (including workshops hosted by our community partners), media releases, and more.

Twitter is a free, online, micro-blogging service. Posts, or "tweets," are limited to a maximum of 140 characters, giving a quick and easy way to provide updates on what you're doing and to stay connected with other people. We've been using Twitter as a fun way to stay connected to our staff, clients, advocates, lawyers, and community partners. You can follow our tweets, even if you don't have a Twitter account. Check us out at twitter.com/legalaidbc! If you have any ideas or suggestions for tweets or feedback on the Twitter content, please e-mail twitter@lss.bc.ca.