30 October 2024
October 30, 2024
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 parental alienation syndrome, or parallel legal maneuvers, in the Canadian legal system.” The recommendation was released on Tuesday, October 29th by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in a report evaluating Canada’s progress in furthering the rights of women. The Committee also criticized Canada’s lack of studies on the impact of its 2019 Divorce Act reform.
“Following the release of the new CEDAW concluding observations, we are calling on the federal government to urgently listen to the demand of hundreds of women’s and feminist organizations for crucial reform to protect women and children facing family violence,” said Suzanne Zaccour, Director of Legal Affairs for NAWL. In 2024, over 250 organizations across Canada have urged the federal Minister of Justice, the Hon. Arif Virani, and his government to adopt a law rendering accusations of parental alienation inadmissible in family court.
In April 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences, called upon all countries to do so, highlighting that “parental alienation” is a “discredited and unscientific pseudo-concept used in family law proceedings by abusers as a tool to continue their abuse and coercion and to undermine and discredit allegations of domestic violence made by mothers who are trying to keep their children safe.”
“Every time government is asked to commit to stopping accusations of parental alienation, we hear the exact same response: the Divorce Act was amended in 2019,” explained Zaccour. “However, this report confirms that there are no studies on the impact of these reforms. Shelters, researchers, service providers, legal professionals, and experts all agree that parental alienation accusations are being weaponized against victims of domestic violence. How can the government claim that the problem was solved in 2019 if it doesn’t have any impact studies? The time has come for the government to believe the women’s sector when it says women and children are being put at further risk of abuse and make a clear commitment to legislate to stop parental alienation accusations,” Zaccour stated.
about NAWL
The National Association of Women and the Law is a not-for-profit feminist organization that promotes the equality rights of women through legal education, research and law reform advocacy.
