2. Program profile

2.1 Context

Family law is an area of shared responsibility between the federal government and the PTs. The federal government is responsible for laws regarding marriage, divorce, and federal support enforcement, while provincial and territorial governments are responsible for the administration of justice and for family law matters pertaining to unmarried couples who separate, and married couples who separate but do not divorce. PTs provide the bulk of family justice services. The federal government is committed to assisting and promoting the development and maintenance of family justice services to facilitate access to the family justice system for families experiencing separation and divorce.

Through the CFJF, Justice Canada fulfils its responsibility by contributing financial assistance to the PTs for the provision of family justice services that support the needs of families experiencing separation and divorce, and by funding non-governmental organizations and individuals for family justice activities such as the development of family justice information and training resources that raise awareness of family law issues for target populations.

Family justice services include mediation, parent education and a range of court-based information and support services to assist parents to make informed decisions about their parenting arrangements and obligations. They also include administrative services that provide parents an alternative to court by assisting them with the establishment, recalculation, and enforcement of their support obligations, and supervised access services that assist in ensuring the safety of family members.

Changes to Canada’s Federal Family Laws in 2021

The 2019 amendments to Canada’s federal family laws related to divorce, parenting and enforcement of family obligations. The majority of these changes which came into force on March 1, 2021 have an impact on the implementation of the CFJF. The amendments related to: promoting the best interests of the child, addressing family violence, helping reduce child poverty, and making the family justice system more accessible and efficient.Footnote3 The amendments to the Divorce Act include:

2.2 Objectives, Priorities and Delivery Model

By fostering an improved capacity in the PTs to deliver family justice services and an increased awareness of family justice issues, the CFJF aims to facilitate access to the family justice system for families experiencing separation and divorce. The CFJF has been designed to address the following five priorities (Table 1).Footnote5

Table 1: CFJF Priorities
Priority Description
  1. Fostering Federal Provincial and Territorial Collaboration
 This priority supports work that encourages collaboration amongst provincial, territorial and federal governments to make improvements to the Canadian family justice system. This work includes: participation on cross-jurisdictional initiatives, such as work on inter-jurisdictional support and parenting issues, enforcement issues, and participation on FPT sub-committees and working groups. This priority also includes work on the coordination of family justice activities and the implementation of new family law legislation.
  1. Supporting Well-being of Family Members
 This priority includes support for programs and services that help support the overall well-being of family members engaging with the family justice system. This includes programs and services that help promote:
  • The emotional well-being of family members, for example, so that parents understand the importance of focusing on their children's best interests in parenting matters (e.g., parent education programs);
  • The economic well-being of family members (e.g. maintenance enforcement programs and PLEI on finances after separation). This contributes to poverty reduction;
  • The safety of family members, in particular in cases of family violence (e.g., supervised parenting time)
  1. Reaching Diverse and Underserved Population
 This priority supports innovation and expansion of programs, services and information to extend the reach of the delivery of these programs, including to meet the needs of diverse and underserved populations such as: Indigenous populations, newcomers to Canada, Official Language minorities, individuals whose primary language is neither English nor French, and rural and northern populations.
  1. Supporting Alternatives to Court
 This priority supports programs and services that support alternatives to court, reduce the need for involvement of courts in family law matters, including the need for courts to adjudicate contested family law matters. This priority would include mechanisms such as: triage models for services, conciliation, mediation, services for the administrative establishment or recalculation of child support, or technological innovations that narrow the issues that need to be determined.
  1. Improving and Streamlining Family Justice System Links/Processes
 This priority supports the simplification of family court processes, information sharing between courts and family justice services, and improved coordination with other parts of the justice system (e.g., criminal justice system). It also supports linkages between FPT governments to improve family justice processes and improvements to inter-jurisdictional processes.

The CFJF is made up of two components: the Activities component and the Projects component:

  1. The Activities component supports PT governments (and their designates) to develop and provide family justice services that assist families experiencing separation and divorce. Examples of these programs and services include parent education, mediation, support enforcement and child support recalculation. The PTs must undertake at least one activity yearly for each of the five priorities. The amount of funding available for each PT is established using a base and a per capita model with a total of $15,000,000 in annual funding per year for all PTs. Where a PT indicates that it will not use its entire allocation in a given fiscal year, these funds may be reallocated to other provincial and territorial jurisdictions, exceeding their annual allocation, or to the Projects component to support family justice projects/activities.
  2. The Projects component supports PT governments, not-for-profit organizations, associations, academic institutions, and individuals through:
    • the development, implementation, and evaluation of provincial and territorial innovative family justice services and programs;
    • projects and activities that inform Canadians about family law issues such as parenting arrangements and child/spousal support; and
    • the development of new strategies, models, and tools intended to improve access to family justice.

Under the Projects component, a minimum of one CFJF priority must be addressed in the workplan. The maximum amount of a contribution to a PT is $2 million per fiscal year and for all other recipients is $75,000 per fiscal year. 

2.3 Governance Structure

The work of the CFJF is coordinated by the Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate within the Programs Branch, and the Family Law and Youth Justice Policy Section, within the Policy Sector. The Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate is responsible for administering the CFJF. The Family Law and Youth Justice Policy Section provides advice to the Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate on priorities for funding for PTs for the provision of family justice services and developing family law information resources. The Family Law and Youth Justice Policy Section and Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate also work closely with the Research and Statistics Division and share information and collaborate on key priorities. Both the Innovations, Analysis, and Integration Directorate and Family Law and the Youth Justice Policy Section work collaboratively to ensure effective and efficient delivery of the CFJF.

Divorce and other matters ancillary to divorce are under federal jurisdiction. Matters relating to unmarried couples who separate, and to married couples who separate but do not divorce are under PTs jurisdiction. Justice Canada works closely with family justice representatives from 13 PTs, not-for-profit organizations/associations (e.g., front line services organizations) and individuals (e.g., family law and children’s law experts and academics) through the work of the CFJF.

2.4 Funding and Financial Information

The total transfer payment budget for the CFJF during the years covered by the evaluation (2018-19 to 2021-22) is $68.6M. The total combined salary, operating and maintenance (O&M) budgets and employee benefit plan (EBP) from 2018-19 to 2021-22 was $875K. The breakdown per fiscal year is presented in Table 2 below.

Table 2: CFJF Allocated Resources during the Evaluation Period
  2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2018-19 to 2021-22
Contributions $16,099,872 $16,045,868 $16,100,000 $20,375,000 $68,620,740
Salary $176,731 $146,130 $151,272 $195,061 $669,194
O&M $22,870 $6,200 $6,000 $2,000 $37,070
EBP* $35,346 $39,455 $40,843 $52,666 $168,310
Totals $16,334,819 $16,237,653 $16,298,115 $20,624,727 $69,495,314

Source: Public Accounts and Financial System
* Comprehensive EBP rate of 27% is used to capture the full costs of employee benefits for the Government of Canada.
Exercises prior to April 1st 2019 were calculated at 20%.