| Convention
on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women |
Sets
out the rights of women in a legally binding form |
Adopted
by United Nations General Assembly – 1979
Signed
by Canada – 1980
2004:
signed by 177 states |
| Declaration
on the Elimination of Violence Against Women |
Sets
out right of women to live free from violence as well
as actions to be taken to reach this goal |
Adopted
by United Nations General Assembly – 1994 |
| Beijing
Platform for Action |
Includes
a number of “strategic objectives” to end violence
against women |
Fourth
World Conference on Women – 1995 |
| Hague
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child
Abduction |
Provides
a protocol to be followed by signatories if a child is
abducted from one country to another |
1980 |
| Mandatory
Charge Policies |
Require
police to lay a charge in a “domestic” assault
situation where they find any evidence a crime has
been committed, regardless of the wishes of the victim |
|
House
of Commons unanimously adopts motion: “Parliament
encourage(s) all Canadian police forces to
establish a practice of having the police
regularly lay charges in instances of wife
beating.” -- 1982
|
Attorneys General and Solicitors General of all
Canadian jurisdictions issue directives to police and
Crown prosecutors to ensure spousal assault will be
treated as a criminal matter – 1986 |
| Stalking/Criminal
Harassment |
Section
264 was added to the Criminal Code creating the
offence of criminal harassment. Further related
amendments to the Code followed. For example, section
231(6) states that where there has been a history of
criminal harassment and the victim is killed by the
perpetrator, he automatically faces a first-degree
murder charge, even if the other circumstances would
not have led to such a charge. |
1993 |
| Sexual
Assault – consent |
|
Criminal
Code section 273.1 sets out what does NOT
constitute consent in cases of sexual assault.
|
|
Two
important cases deal with this issue as well: R
v Darrach challenged the constitutionality
of this section of the Code but lost.
|
| Rv
Ewanchuk established
that the absence of consent is to be determined
subjectively: there is no set standard of
conduct that establishes either consent or the
absence of consent . |
|
|
| Sexual
Assault – intoxication defence |
Criminal
Code section 273.2 sets out that in sexual assault
cases a belief by the accused that the victim has
consented is not a defence if it arose from the
accused's self-induced intoxication
In the case of R v Daviault , this section
was unsuccessfully challenged by the accused as
violating his constitutional rights.
|
1994
|
| Sexual
Assault – access to complainant's records |
Criminal
Code section 278.1 sets out strict rules of procedure
to be followed by an accused who wishes to make an
application for access to the private records of a
complainant in a sexual assault case and by the judge
who hears the application.
These
provisions were unsuccessfully challenged in the case
of R v Mills , which argued that they
violated the constitutional rights of the accused.
|
1999
|
| Divorce
Act – custody |
Bill
C-22 – An Act to Amend the Divorce Act introduced
radical changes to the manner in which custody
decisions would be made in divorce cases. It proposed
eliminating the terms custody and access entirely,
providing a list of criteria (including physical
violence) to support the best interests of the child
test, and a number of other significant changes. |
|
Introduced
to Parliament – December 2002
Died
on Order Paper – November 2003
|
Present
status of custody law reform: unknown |
| Divorce
Act –
child support |
Federal
Child Support Guidelines provide a standardized
process for calculating the amount of child support to
be paid by the non-custodial parent to the custodial
parent. The Guidelines allow for exceptions where the
parents share responsibility for the children and
where there are cases of extraordinary expenses (eg, a
child with disabilities) as well as providing an
enforcement mechanism. |
1997 |
