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SOCI - Standing Committee

Social Affairs, Science and Technology

Past Session: Past Session:
35-2 35th Parliament, 2nd Session (February 27, 1996 - April 27, 1997)
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Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Social Affairs, Science and Technology

Issue 21 - Thirteenth Report of the Committee

Wednesday, February 12, 1997

The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology has the honour to present its

THIRTEENTH REPORT

Your Committee, to which was referred Bill C-41, An Act to amend the Divorce Act, the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act, the Garnishment, Attachment and Pension Diversion Act and the Canada Shipping Act, has, in obedience to the Order of Reference of Thursday, November 28, 1996, examined the said Bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1. Page 2, clause 1: strike out lines 9 and 10 and substitute the following:

"of illness, disability or other cause, to with-"

2. Page 13, clause 11: strike out line 40 and substitute the following:

"(2) The guidelines shall be based on the principle that spouses have a joint financial obligation to maintain the children of the marriage in accordance with their relative abilities to contribute to the performance of that obligation.

(3) In subsection (1), "order for child"

The Committee received three letters which were read into the record and are appended to this report.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Honourable Allan Rock, in his letter of February 12 1997 to the Chair of the Committee confirmed that the "government will take the steps necessary to introduce a motion in this session to establish a Joint Senate-House of Commons Committee to study issues related to custody and access under the Divorce Act. The government is offering this commitment in response to concerns raised by some Senators, on behalf of non-custodial parents, who believe that this issue should be re-examined."

The Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. George Thomson, confirmed that the following amendment will be made to Section 9 of the January draft of the Federal Child Support Guidelines.

Shared Custody

Replace section 9 of the January 22, 1997 draft Federal Child Support Guidelines with the following:

9. Where a spouse exercises a right of access to, or has physical custody of, a child for not less than 40% of the time over the course of a year, the amount of the child support order shall be determined by taking into account

(a) the amounts set out in the applicable tables for each of the spouses;

(b) the increased costs of shared custody arrangements; and

(c) the conditions, means, needs and other circumstances of each spouse and of any child of the marriage for whom support is sought.

In his letter, Mr. Thomson stated that "This amendment will be included in the Guidelines which we hope will be in effect on May 1, 1997 (depending on the date that Bill C-41, receives Royal Assent) and will remain in effect for a period of time thereafter sufficient to allow it to be evaluated."

The Honourable Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Joyce Fairbairn, by her letter confirmed her support for "a motion to ask your Committee to monitor the implementation and application of Bill C-41, and its associated guidelines."

Respectfully submitted,

MABEL M. DeWARE

Chair

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