The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) welcomes the report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women on coercive control and supports its recommendations to amend the Divorce Act to prevent the use of parental alienation allegations in cases of intimate partner violence or ...

The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) congratulates Prime Minister Mark Carney and the elected Liberal MPs on receiving a mandate from Canadians to form a new government. During this time of economic turmoil, there is an urgent need for ...

On March 20th, 2025, Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs at the National Association of Women and the Law, testified before the National Assembly of Québec’s Committee on Institutions regarding Bill 91, which proposes the creation of a Unified Family Court within ...

On Wednesday, February 12th, the National Association of Women and the Law had the honour of appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada in a case that could shape legal protections for survivors of intimate partner violence. Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia is about ...

The prevalence of accusations of parental alienation makes it likely that a new tort of family violence would be used to revictimize survivors of gender-based violence Anishinaabeg Territory/OTTAWA, November 14th, 2024: The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) has been ...

Federal government’s failure to act is putting victims of domestic abuse at further risk by punishing disclosures of family violence Anishinaabe Territory/OTTAWA, October 30, 2024: A new UN report published yesterday is calling on Canada to legislate to “prevent the use of ...

The National Association of Women and the Law (NAWL) has submitted a brief to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its study on Coercive Behaviour. In its brief, NAWL calls on the government to legislate to ban parental alienation ...

The National Association of Women and the Law is advocating for a ban on parental alienation accusations in family courts. Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs, wrote an op-ed addressing this pressing issue. Read the full article at https://www.law360.ca/ca/family/articles/1829261/parental-alienation-the-one-size-fits-none-theory-suzanne-zaccour  ...

“Parental alienation” is a concept used in parenting time disputes to criticize one parent, often the mother, when the other parent, often the father, does not have a relationship with the child. NAWL is leading a campaign, endorsed by 250 feminist organizations ...

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,   The Honourable Arif Virani,  The Honourable Pierre Poilievre,   Jagmeet Singh,   Yves-François Blanchet,  We write to you as feminist and equality-seeking organizations to urge you to take action to address a crisis of dramatic proportions ...

On March 28th, 2023, NAWL participated in the Specific consultations and public hearings on Bill 12, An Act to reform family law with regard to filiation and to protect children born as a result of sexual assault and the victims of that ...

On February 15th, 2023 NAWL will intervene in a family case before the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan.   The case, Friesen v Friesen, concerns the recent Divorce Act amendments and their impact on women. We believe that this case has the potential ...

Mothers who have experienced intimate partner violence are often accused of being “alienating” in family court. In December 2022, the National Association of Women and the Law submitted a brief to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights ...

NAWL endorsed the brief by Luke’s Place presented to the Ontario legislature’s Justice Committee, on October 13, 2020, on BILL 207: An Act to amend the Children’s Law Reform Act, the Courts of Justice Act, the Family Law Act and other Acts respecting various ...

After decades of advocacy by women’s rights groups pressing for much needed changes to the Divorce Act, including by a coalition led by the National Association for Women and the Law (NAWL) and Luke’s Place, and the efforts of many feminists who ...

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The author, Aditya Rao is a common law student at the University of Ottawa. She is enrolled in the Feminist Law Reform course lead by Professor Martha Jackman, NAWL co-chair, and Suki Beavers, NAWL’s Project Director.  Can you imagine being required to show proof of income ...

NAWL Submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Présentation de l’ANFD au Comité sénatorial permanent des Affaires juridiques et constitutionnelles Submission by Pam Cross on behalf of the National Association of Women and the Law to the Standing ...

On January 25th, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that not extending spousal support and the division of property upon relationship breakdown to common-law couples, or de facto spouses, is constitutional. The case of Quebec (Attorney General)v. A, otherwise known as ...