Hello, my name is Erin Smith. I'm a Senior Policy Analyst with the Family Policy, Legislation and Transformation Division in the DC Ministry of Attorney General. I'm joined by my Co-Presenter Oriole Corsi, a Senior Program Policy Analyst with the Family Justice Services Division. In this webinar, we will be providing a detailed walkthrough of the Early Resolution and Case Management process, which applies to family law cases in Provincial Court in Syria, Victoria, effective December 7, 2020. This webinar is one of a series of recorded presentations, which will provide information about family law cases in DC Provincial Court. Before we begin, we would like to acknowledge we are presenting from the traditional territory of the Laquanguin people, including the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, who have been stewards of this area for many generations. The Early Resolution and Case Management process is part of a major reform of the Provincial Court Family Rule, a joint project with the Provincial Court and the Ministry of Attorney General. The project concluded an opportunity to prototype the Early Resolution and Case Management process in Victoria, beginning in May 2019. Learnings from Victoria have informed the final version of the rules, of which both Suri and Victoria are early adopters. The major objectives of the new family rules are to encourage Early Resolution, where appropriate, outside the court process, to make the court process and court forms user-friendly, and to make each court appearance meaningful and productive. The focus of this presentation will be about how things will work in Suri and Victoria, where the Early Resolution process is being implemented at this time. Early Resolution registries are designated under the rules. The Early Resolution requirements, which we will be describing in more detail throughout this presentation, apply only to court locations designated as Early Resolution registries. Suri and Victoria are early adopters of the Early Resolution Registry aspects of the new rules, under the Early Resolution and Case Management model, as of December 7, 2020. Additional Early Resolution registries are anticipated to be designated under the rules, as services are funded to support it. Pre-existing designations and requirements for Family Justice Registries and Parenting After Separation Program registries will also be carried forward in the new rules, with designated Family Justice Registries and Parenting Education Program registries. How do you determine where you need to file? Well, under the rules, an application must be filed in, if applicable, the registry where there is an existing case with the same parties. If the matter involves a child-related issue, the registry closes to where the child lives most of the time. And if the matter does not involve the child-related issue, the registry closes to where the party seeks results of matter lives most of the time. The closest registry is not necessarily a geographic boundary, such as the municipal border, and will be left to the discretion of the parties and their council to determine which registry is closest. If another party does not agree, they can bring an application before the court to transfer the file. With permission of the court, a party seeking an order about a protection order or a priority parenting matter may do so in any registry. If the registry you must file at is Suria Victoria, you are filing in an Early Resolution Registry, and the process we will be discussing here may apply to your application. This diagram is a high-level overview of the Family Law process in Early Resolution Registry. We will get into more of the details about the steps in the process as we continue through the presentation. The blue boxes across the top refer to the other orders, including protection orders and priority parenting matter orders. These matters are often time sensitive and need a decision without delay. They do not go through the Early Resolution process. Rather, these applications proceed directly to a judge. The Early Resolution process also does not apply to applications for consent orders, enforcement orders, and case management orders, but it does apply to orders about Family Law matters in Provincial Court. I will turn now to providing more detail about the court process for some of the other orders applications set out in the blue boxes across the top of the diagram. As noted, applications for protection order are one of the other orders which proceed outside the Early Resolution process. Though the Early Resolution process does not apply to protection order applications, staff at the Justice Access Center are available to help. They can assist with the forms and legal information as well as safety planning and referrals to community resources and legal advice. The application process for protection order has been significantly updated in Streamline. The application about a protection order is the only court form which needs to be completed to obtain, change, or terminate a protection order under part nine of the Family Law Act. The application has three schedules. Schedule one that must be completed to apply for a new protection order is a guided affidavit. This eliminates the need for an additional affidavit to be drafted to support the application. Schedule two is used to change an existing protection order and schedule three is used to apply to terminate a protection order. A person may make their application about a protection order with notice or without notice. If the application is being made without notice, you would select the appropriate option on the form and provide your reasons. Generally, an application would proceed without notice if the applicant or their children are in imminent danger of harm or providing notice in advance would probably have serious consequences. No additional application is required to request that the application be heard without notice. If the application is being made with notice, the application about a protection order must be served personally with at least seven days notice to the other party, unless the court orders otherwise. Proof of service can be provided in the form of a certificate of service. This replaces the affidavit of personal service to make it easier for someone serving a document to prepare the proof of service for filing. A new form introduced under these rules is the written response to application. This form is optional. A person replying to an application must attend court, but may choose to file the written response as well. At the court appearance, a judge will make an appropriate order based on the information and evidence they are provided. The schedule for applying for a protection order helps to guide both the applying party and the court through the circumstances that may warrant different terms being part of the protection order, including weapons restrictions, communication for specific purposes, and police assistance to supervise the removal of belonging. As is the current process, the protection order registry is notified by the court registry of any protection order changed to a protection order or termination of a protection order. Registry staff will also be continuing to facilitate service of a protection order on a restrained party who is not present in court if they are located in BC. Where they are unable to facilitate service, either because there is a lack of information about whereabouts of a person or they are evading service, the applicant can request an order for an alternate method of service to help facilitate that service. If a party has outstanding family law matters, they will be referred to the early resolution process following a decision on the protection order. Orders about priority parenting matters are also in the category of other orders which proceed outside the early resolution process. The application about a priority parenting matter is one of the subject-specific forms which requires the notice of motion. A priority parenting matter is a new defined term under the rules. It is a closed list of issues concerning a child. The list includes some point in time specific decisions such as health treatments, passport applications, or consent to travel. The list also includes decisions that are required as a priority such as changes to a child's residence, often where a family separates and one parent determines immediately where a child will reside.  Often, obtaining the order about a priority parenting matter will facilitate an opportunity to bring an application about a family law matter to address the long-term needs of the family once the immediate concerns have been addressed. Priority parenting matters do not replace interim orders or final orders on a family law matter about parenting arrangement. They are decisions that are required on a priority basis due to the significant impact a delay would have on a child. If the application is made with notice, the certificate of service can be used to prove service. To reply, the other party must attend court but may also file a written response to application. If the application is time sensitive or special circumstances exist, permission from the court is required to proceed without notice or with less than seven days notice to the other party. To apply for permission, an application for case management order without notice or attendance is required. This application is reviewed as a desk order, meaning by a judge without the parties or a court appearance being required. The application about a priority parenting matter is scheduled for an application list day for the first court appearance. If time and circumstances allow, the hearing may occur at that time. Interim orders can be made as well. If additional time is required, it may be adjourned for a hearing. These will be treated by the court in a similar matter to the same applications under the notice and motion process. Returning to the process on a page diagram of the family law process and early resolution registry, you will see we have so far been discussing some of the other orders which proceed outside the early resolution process, as identified in the blue box in the top left corner of the diagram. At the end of the presentation, we will return to a discussion of the other matters which fall under this category, including applications for consent orders and enforcement orders. If we look now to the line green boxes highlighted in this diagram, we will turn the focus to the early resolution process, which applies to most family law matters. The early resolution process has been designed to help families to reduce conflict and work towards an earlier, more collaborative resolution, keeping the children's best interest front and center, rather than moving quickly to adversarial positions. The model builds on existing family justice services, including assessment, mediation and parenting education, that makes the referral to those services earlier in the process, before parties have completed and served an application for a court order. The focus is on early support, information, and assisting families to resolve their issues before an application to court is made. If after these steps, there are outstanding issues to resolve, an application may be made by either party, and a family management conference will be scheduled. Let's explore the early process, the early resolution process in more detail. As we've mentioned previously, the early resolution requirements apply to applications for orders regarding family law matters. What exactly are family law matters? Family law matters are a defined term under the rules, which includes parenting arrangements, including parental responsibilities and parenting time, child support, contact with a child, guardianship of the child, and spousal support. The early resolution requirements apply if you're asking for a new order about a family law matter, or to make changes to an existing order or agreement, or to cancel or set aside an existing order or agreement. If a party is choosing to approach the court to resolve a family law matter in an early resolution registry, the first step will be to complete a notice to resolve the family law matter. Again, this starts the process for a party who needs help with resolving a family law matter, including to change, replace, set aside or cancel an existing final order or agreement about a family law matter. The two page form requires the party to provide their name and contact information. The name or names of each other party, and any contact information they know for them, as well as to identify which family law matters they need help with. This light touch form serves the purpose of moving parties into the early resolution process without parties asserting their positions, including the notice to resolve a family law matter is filed with the court registry and is forwarded to the Justice Access Center by the registry staff. The party is then referred to the Justice Access Center to complete their early resolution requirements, which are outlined on the second page of the form. The party must also provide a copy of the notice to each other party. A copy of the document can be provided by text, email, mail, or in person. It does not have to be formally served. So now we're going to review the early resolution requirements for family law matters that are initiated by that notice to resolve documents. So as previously noted, this pathway separate and apart from the pathway for protection orders and other types of orders that proceed outside of the early resolution process. So in early resolution registries, the early resolution requirements include a needs assessment with a Family Justice Counselor, a Parenting Education Court, and is determined to be appropriate one consensual dispute resolution session. Unless a court provides a specific exemption, these are the requirements that must be fulfilled by all parties to be able to file an application about a family law matter or a reply to an application. For a party who's filed or received a notice to resolve documents, the next step is to contact the Justice Access Center to schedule their individual needs assessment meeting with the Family Justice Counselor. Family Justice Counselors, or FJCs, are certified family dispute resolution professionals who are employed by Family Justice Services Division, which is part of the BC Ministry of Attorney General. Family Justice Counselors conduct needs assessments and consensual dispute resolution for family law matters as part of the early resolution registry requirements, but they also provide the same services to anyone seeking them at all the Family Justice Centers and Justice Access Centers throughout the province. Calls to Justice Access Center or Family Justice Center are answered live during business hours, so a person seeking to schedule their needs assessment meeting at the Justice Access Center in the early resolution registries will get to talk to a human right away and have the opportunity for assistance in identifying their initial needs at that very first point of contact. The initial contact with the Justice Access Center will include a high level immediate safety screening, early legal information and an opportunity to receive relevant referrals to legal advice or other community service organizations that might be helpful prior to their needs assessment meeting. Parties might identify that they'd like to bring legal counsel or a support person to their needs assessment or the Justice Access Center might identify the need for an interpreter, all of which can be arranged prior to the assessment meeting with that Family Justice Counselor. Prior to attending the needs assessment, they're given information about the assessment appointment so they're prepared. They know what to expect. They're also provided the assessment questionnaire and this assessment questionnaire is a standardized tool that addresses family violence and other dynamics such as levels of conflict, mental health substance abuse, finances and the experience of children and generally helps identify the issues the parties need assistance with. They'll complete the questionnaire on their own and return it prior to their appointment and then they'll have an opportunity to really review it and discuss it with the Family Justice Counselor during their time together. The assessment interview is an opportunity for parties to discuss the dynamics in their family and for the Family Justice Counselor to be able to support the party in articulating what issues they're hoping to resolve. The Family Justice Counselor can provide legal information about the issues as well as information about the early resolution and case management model itself. During the needs assessment, the Family Justice Counselor might identify community resources that could be helpful. They can refer the party to our online parenting after separation courses and refer them to legal advice. If child support or selfless support is identified as an issue, they'll also advise them of the financial documentation required to deal with those issues so they can get that started. Following the needs assessment with the party who's initiating contact with the Justice Access Center, the Family Justice Counselor is then going to reach out to the other party or parties if there's more than two in writing and then invite them too to come in and complete their needs assessment and this outreach will occur within a business day. So, the second party's provided the same opportunity as that initiating party to meet one-on-one with the Family Justice Counselor to discuss their perspective. They'll complete the assessment process similar to the initiating party. They'll be screened to the same dynamics mentioned previously and they'll be assisted in clarifying or identifying what issues they'd like resolved or what resources or referrals will be used for them and an opportunity to find out where they can seek legal advice for themselves. And similar to that initiating party, if child or selfless support is an issue, they will also be advised of the financial documentation required to deal with those issues. It's been our experience of assessment interviews provide an opportunity for partial or full resolution of the issues as parties are working to define them and provide some with increased readiness overall. And so far, there has been an increase in the engagement of the second party in Victoria as the first early resolution registry and the increase of engagement of that second party is higher than what we see in other current rule five sites around the province where only one party is required by the rules to complete an assessment. Having said that there's going to be parties who are unreachable or refuse to engage in the process and the resolution process and requirements were set up to provide an opportunity for that early resolution but not to contribute to the delay in decisions being made for children and families. So the communication from the family justice counselor to the other parties provides information about the requirements as well as the potential consequences that they choose not to engage in the process, namely that the family justice counselor will be providing that information to the court and they would then be unable to file a reply to any application that might be made by the initiating party unless they've completed the early resolution requirements themselves. So parties who are not engaging will have really clear information upfront prior to any application being made. And so the family justice counselor is going to make several attempts first in writing and followed up by telephone to contact the other parties and invite them and will provide them two weeks from that first communication to schedule their needs assessment. And if the parties are unreachable or refuse to engage in the process, the family justice counselor is going to document that the act to be an initiating party to talk about next step and potentially assist them with any court documents they might have again, ensuring that they've got information about where to access legal advice if they do want to proceed. Another requirement is the parenting education course. So the parenting education recourse referred to the rules are the same as they are where previously and are elsewhere in the province. There are two courses the parties can choose from to fulfill this requirement. So it's the online parenting after separation course as well as the parenting after separation for Indigenous families, which was developed last year. And the link to the trailer is on this slide there for those that are unfamiliar with that program. So there are still exceptions to when a party may not need to complete the program. And the justice act center can provide that has exemptions for the situations identified in the rules, such as if they completed it within the last two years already, they can't access the online courses. They're not available in a language to which they're fluent or they can't complete it due to literacy challenges. In the early resolution registries, the parties no longer need to complete a form. For an exemption to the parenting education program, they simply discuss it with their family justice counselor and if it's appropriate, they'll be provided the exemption documented for the court along with the completion of the other resolution registry. That's what early resolution requirements. So the early resolution process includes the requirement of that participation in at least one consensual dispute resolution or CDR session unless the parties meet one of two circumstances. So if the parties can't access CDR services, that really reflects the intent not to require parties to incur costs, complete requirements of the court. So if all the parties the issues that the parties wish to resolve are out of scope of the publicly funded services to family justice services division, for example, the only issue is to reduce or cancel child support arrears or income needs to be imputed, the parties are not required to participate in CDR. So they may choose to proceed to CDR with a private professional after hearing about it as an option. The other circumstances for exemption articulated in the rule is when the needs assessor or CDR professional determines that CDR is not appropriate. So following the completion of needs assessment with all parties, the family justice counselor is going to make a determination at that point about whether they've used consensual dispute resolution as being appropriate and therefore whether parties are required to participate in that one session. This decision is based on all the information gleaned through the assessment process. It might be that one party doesn't engage in assessments so CDR is not possible. It might be that they've recently completed CDR on the issue, so they've fulfilled the intent of the rule. Family justice counselors and private CDR professionals are considering individual circumstances in every case and they'll work at the parties to see whether there are ways to design a process. They'll address any concerns there may be. That might be involving advocates or support people, legal counsel, using a shuttle process where they aren't facilitating a joint session. There are also circumstances where safety, family violence, power balance issues or other barriers such as mental health or substances can't be sufficiently mitigated in the design of a process to ensure fair negotiation and that would make CDR inappropriate. So needs assessor or CDR professional are able to give an exemption when the strategies available to them are not sufficient to address the issues. It's also important to note that while an initial decision might be made that CDR is appropriate after needs assessment, a CDR professional's obligation to continue to assess for appropriateness of CDR continues throughout services that they provide. The CDR professionals are working with parties to make plans for safety and other dynamics prior to CDR during CDR process itself as well as making any necessary plans for considerations of things that might occur following CDR. And if concerns arise at any point during the process that makes it inappropriate to continue, a CDR professional can terminate the process at that time. If it's determined that parties meet an exception to their requirement to complete the CDR session, family justice counselors and private CDR professionals will make note of that and the family justice counselor will document that for the court and parties can receive a part from the Justice Access Center to discuss next steps and get referrals to legal advice so they're prepared for the process. Where it's been determined that parties must fulfill that CDR requirement, the family justice counselor is going to provide the parties with information about their options. So they could continue into a mediation process with that family justice counselor. If child or spousal support are their only issues, they could complete facilitated negotiation with a child support officer at the Justice Access Center. They could hire a private family mediator or they could complete a collaborative family law process conducted in accordance with a collaborative participation agreement. Parties are also reminded that the rules require that they provide their relevant financial information to the CDR professional if they're negotiating child or spousal support. At the completion of CDR, they may have resolved all the issues and that could be documented in a written agreement, consent order, or a memorandum of understanding depending on their needs and wishes. They're advised to independently go advise on any arrangements they're documenting prior to signing and they're provided referrals if they're not already connected to counsel. Similar to the slides on the other requirements you'll see here as well, that there's an opportunity for partial or full resolution and that there's an increased readiness for next step in the process, whatever that might be for them. In cases that do not result in full resolution through CDR, we've seen parties with a much clearer understanding of the issues they're hoping to resolve, as well as a better understanding of the other's perspective. They're entering into the court process with a better idea of what they can expect and what would be expected of them and they'll have an or have an opportunity to access support services and legal advice. So now that we've outlined what the requirements are, this diagram talks a little bit about the flow for the parties as they make their way through the process. So the yellow boxes refer to the initiating party, the orange, the court registry, the purple is family justice service division, and the blue is the second party. The green then is both parties together. Initiated by the filing of that notice to resolve documents, parties are referred to the Justice Access Center and they're typically offered a needs assessment within five days, although the timing of their assessment might depend on their availability or the availability of anyone attending that with them. Following the needs assessment of the party, initiating contact with the Justice Access Center, the family justice counselor will be making contact and writing within a business day and inviting the other party or parties to complete their needs assessment. And if following individual needs assessments with both parties, the family justice counselor determines CDR to be appropriate, then the parties will choose who they complete that with and proceed. And if at the end of that CDR session or session, they choose to participate in more than that one required session. If there are outstanding issues, either party might request the family justice services division provides the court registry with confirmation of the early resolution requirements and they can proceed to file an application about a family law matter. If one of the parties is not engaging in the process in a reasonable timeframe, for example, if the second party doesn't contact the Justice Access Center to schedule their needs assessment within the 14-day timeframe provided, the motivated party can request that confirmation of the early resolution requirements before written to the registry and then that party can proceed with their application about a family law matter. And in addition to all the action boxes, you can see the blue icons there, which are for legal advice and the green icons for referrals to community resources and they appear throughout the early resolution process. So the goal is to ensure parties have the resources they need and are adequately supported not just through services at the Justice Access Center but by legal counsel and others as well. So returning to that process on a page diagram which outlines the entire family law process in early resolution registries, you'll see I've been describing the early resolution requirements identified in the lime green boxes on the left of the diagram. I'll now turn it back to Aaron to discuss what happens when there are unresolved matters after the early resolution requirements have been met. Thanks, Oriel. When the early resolution process is complete, there may still be some unresolved matters. The model doesn't anticipate that all parties will resolve all of their issues in the early resolution process. Although many do, the process benefits all parties as it helps them to clarify a narrow issue even if they aren't fully resolved during early resolution. One of the positive outcomes of the process is an increased readiness for parties proceeding to court. These matters proceed through to the blue boxes at the end of the early resolution process into the provincial court process which is highlighted in red on the right hand side of the diagram. If parties have come to an agreement or chosen to prepare a consent order application following the early resolution process, the agreement or application for a family law matter can be filed with the court. Either an agreement or a consent order can be reached at any time with or without engagement in the early resolution process or court process. It is here as a reminder that these agreements or applications are often made and filed at this time. Turning our attention now to where a party may need to continue through to apply for a court order about a family law matter. After the early resolution requirements have been met which means the party has completed the requirements or is exempt from participation or in the case of CDR it is not appropriate. Any party may file an application about a family law matter to ask for a court order about any remaining family law matter issue. The application replaces both the application to obtain an order and application respecting existing orders or agreements and is used to apply for a new order about a family law matter or to change or cancel an existing order or written agreement about a family law matter. The form includes a number of different schedules depending on the family law matter and whether it is for a new order or to change or cancel an existing order or written agreement. A party will complete and file only the schedules that apply. A reminder that the Justice Access Center and Family Justice Center staff can continue to assist parties to navigate the form and can provide referrals for legal advice and to community service providers. Along with the application a party must file their financial statement as applicable for an application for an order about child support or spouse support. Additionally, if a party is applying for guardianship of a child they must also file their consenting request to complete the record check for the Ministry of Children and Family Development and the Protection Order Registry that are required for their guardianship affidavit. The application must be personally served on the other party, a party who is unable to execute personal service to make an application to the court to allow an alternate method of service. This can be done using the application for case management order without notice or appearance. Proof of service can also be provided by way of the certificate of service. The other party has 30 days to file a reply. Upon receipt of the application as we said the other party has 30 days to file a reply if they choose to. If the party does not engage the party who filed the application would submit a proof of service and after the 30 days if no reply has been filed they can proceed to scheduling their first appearance. If the party does reply they too are required to have met the early resolution requirement. If they are unable to meet the requirements or require more time to meet the requirements they can apply to the court to extend the time to file the reply or for permission to file their reply before complying with the early resolution requirement. Again this is done using an application for case management order without notice or attendance. In the reply a party can agree with any of the other orders the party has applied for. Disagree and provide their reasons for the disagreement as well as suppose the order they believe should be made to by the court. They can also make a counter application for an order about a family law matter the other party's application did not already include. The form for a reply is also designed with schedules. The first series of schedules match up with the application and are used where a party disagrees with the order the other party is asking for. The replying party only needs to complete the schedules that apply to their response. The second series of schedules are to be used for the counter application. They mirror the application and again only the applicable schedule for the counter application needs to be completed. The financial statement and other supporting documents are also required to be filed by the party with their reply. This ensures that both parties have provided all the supporting documents required for the court appearance to be meaningful. After filing the reply the parties are referred to the judicial case manager to schedule their first appearance the family management conference. These first appearances are being scheduled with the judicial case manager to ensure both parties are available to attend so that the appearance can be meaningful. For those parties seeking a court order after completing the early resolution process the family management conference is their first court appearance. The family management conference provides active case management and a meaningful court appearance. It is an informal and time limited process with the judge. Parties are helped to identify the issues to be resolved and to explore options for resolving the disputes. Consent orders may be made where appropriate for family law matters or other required orders. The judge will also consider what is needed to ensure the case will be ready to proceed with directions to the appropriate next steps and any interim orders on the family law matter and case management orders that may be needed. Case management orders are procedural or administrative orders such as exchanging information, parentage testing, order interviews of the child's report or making conduct orders. This is where the case management aspect of the model really comes into play as the parties do not need to ask the court for many of these orders. The court will be looking to how the parties need to be supported while awaiting their next step but also what is required to achieve that next step in a meaningful way. The judge may make orders in the absence of a party either because they did not follow a reply or because they did not attend at the family management conference. The paths of families after the family management conference will depend on the circumstances of the case. Often full resolution can be reached during the family management conference or parties pause with their interim orders they have in place to see how they are working for their family. As parties continue through the court process they may be required to attend a family settlement conference similar to a family case conference where a judge assists in mediating the issues with the parties or to a trial preparation conference where a check-in with a judge is required before the trial date. The final decision from a judge comes at a hearing or trial. We are finding with the early experiences of the model that with a narrowing of issues and increased readiness of the parties shorter hearings or trials can often be scheduled. A party can always return to the court for another family management conference. There are many circumstances where a party may have attended a family management conference and needs to return to that step. A party can follow requests for scheduling to return to a family management conference if the family management conference was adjourned generally or struck off the list if a party needed to complete some requirement before returning if an interim order is required after having attended a first family management conference or if an interim order made at an earlier family management conference needs to be changed before the trial or hearing can take place. If more than a year has passed since any step was taken in a case a party can file a notice of intention to proceed and will attend a family management conference to determine the appropriate next steps in their case. If a party is not yet filed their family law matter application the notice of intention to proceed will return them to the needs assessment again to determine the appropriate next steps in our case. Returning to the diagram which outlines the entire family law process in early resolution registries you will see that we've gone through all the steps in the early resolution process and now the provincial court process as outlined in the boxes in blue on the right side of the diagram. I'm going to return now to the other orders which are noted at the top of the diagram and which proceed outside of the early resolution process. We already talked about the process for applications about protection orders and for applications about orders for about priority parenting matters as examples of other orders which proceed outside of the early resolution process and are often quite time-sensitive. I noted that the application about a priority parenting matter is one of the process specific forms which have replaced the notice of motion. The other process specific forms which have replaced the notice of motion and which were also included in the category of other orders which proceed outside of the early resolution process are applications for an order prohibiting the relocation of a child, for a case management order and a case management order without notice or attendance, and applications about enforcement. The application for order prohibiting the relocation of a child is specific to applications under Section 69 of the Family Law Act to prohibit the relocation of a child when there is a written agreement or order about parenting arrangement. If there is no written agreement or order about parenting arrangements, a party can apply under Section 46 of the Family Law Act for an order about changes to a child's residence, using either the application about priority parenting matter or the application about a family law matter, depending on the specific circumstances that apply to the change in residence. Depending on the required case management order, if the parties are consenting to the order being made, different options are available for the form to use to make those applications. If the application is one that can be made without notice or attendance, such as an application permitting an alternate method of service, or waiving or modifying a requirement under the rules, parties are encouraged to use the application for case management order without notice or attendance, as these can be reviewed relatively quickly by a judge in chambers without a court appearance. For any other case management order that requires either the consent of the other party or notice to the other party, the application for case management order should be used. The same form is used along with a draft consent order if the application can be reviewed as a desk order application, where each party has provided their consent. A court appearance is required if no draft consent order is provided. Lastly, the application about enforcement pulls all the enforcement options from the notice of motion and keeps them together on the purpose specific application about enforcement. Enforcement under the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act still has its own distinct processes in form. Where notice is required, a party must be served with a copy of the application at least seven days before the date of the court appearance, just as with the notice of motion. A new written response to application form has also been introduced to provide a response to any of the application's federal orders. The form is optional and is to be used in addition to attending the court appearance if a party chooses. Applications for a consent order are also in the category of other orders, which proceed outside the early resolution process. We did talk briefly about how the application for Family Law Matter Consent Order may be made after completing the early resolution process if consent is reached. Parties can also use the application for a Family Law Matter Consent Order at any time a consent is reached. The early resolution requirements do not need to be met to file the application. Parties must file the application and a draft consent order signed by each party, along with the supporting documents as indicated in the form. This application is also reviewed as a desk order without the party's needing to attend court unless asked by the judge. All of the forms make an effort to use plain language titles to describe when the form is to be used and to track the terminology from the rules. Each form is also supported by a guidebook that provides information about when to use the form, steps to complete, file and serve the form, and tips for completing each section. Fillable PDF forms with supporting guidebooks are on the BC government websites. Paper forms are also available at any provincial court registry, justice access center or family justice center, and all service BC locations. Locations other than Surrey and Victoria can print forms for those locations as requested by parties until May 2021 when all locations adopt the form. A web-based application, similar to the divorce app, is under development for provincial court family forms and will be available to parties to access through the BC government website upon its launch. The first pathway will be for completion of the application about a protection order with other forms and pathways added in the future. Thank you for listening to our webinar today. For more information, please visit the following website.


Thanks for your consideration of the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary, which deals with how COVID has changed us. There's no question that COVID has had a lasting impact on us individually and on society as a whole. We gave up our masks, perhaps too early, but in the pain of these last three years we now seem to have given up our memory of how it has been and what if anything we have learned from it. We have endured a fair amount of isolation and our social connections have frayed in the process. The fear or guilt of failing health has dominated our lives. Worries about jobs and security have made us feel vulnerable in so many ways. The political climate, including the violent outrages of people like Trump, a rise in autocracy and global failure to deal with climate change, have made us wonder if the next generation has even a fighting chance. Many of us have largely spent our time indoors, experiencing job loss or terrifying transition into uncertainty. The activities we once actively enjoyed have taken a back seat. As time passes without the seasons of sustained effort and success, our dispositions may have declined while we weren't watching. And we have changed. Our communities have changed. The world has changed. The memories of life before are distant and fragmented. Actually, in the words of Thomas Wolfe, we can't go home again, and indeed the notion of home is likely to have changed for us over these past three years. When we wake up from this rip-van-winkle sleep, the streets where we live may be the same, but we have all moved to other places. Some people have experienced dramatic transformation, while others have had more subtle changes. Whether we recognize it or not, the three-year hiatus we have had is a major denominator for our collective world view. Our perspectives on the country and the social fabric have been torn. National optimism is not so easy anymore, and we are left unprepared for a continuation or repetition of the trouble we have seen. Some people are energetic enough to see this as a time of opportunity and advantage, but frankly most of us feel like victims. Our view of the future has been altered. We are less comfortable with our lives and the world we had three years ago. We live with the prospect of further deterioration, uncertain of what will happen to us and our kids. Yes, we could lose another three years to this or other pathogens, and that could have a huge effect on us and everything around us. So what happens next? Three years could turn into six and six into nine. We find ourselves trapped in this troubled discomfort, yearning for a return to normalcy whatever that was and whenever we lost it, just as some other people less thoughtful yearn for a return to time when America was great, whatever that was, and whenever we lost it. The path to better times is elusive. We are not yet at the end of our discomfort, and we cannot yet see the end of the tunnel. We are rather living in a time that demands that we take inventory, that we acknowledge the realities and risks facing us, and that we find the moral strength to move on to better ways and days. This applies to us individually and collectively. Over these three years we have lost something precious as a society. We can no longer claim to be the city on the hill or the greatest generation or most exceptional nation. Our concern for each other and our belief in the future simply isn't what it was, and what we have lost may not be recapturable. It's time to break from the emotional lockdown of the last three years and gather and connect again, perhaps in a more dedicated, motivated and caring way than before. We know what we have to do, and after suffering the loss of these years from our lives, it's now time to do it. Or else. Thanks for your consideration of the views expressed in this Think Tech commentary. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, and donate to us at ThinkTechHawaii.com. Mahalo.


My name is Ankit Anand. I work for BobLTI. We are a conversation media platform. So I lead central strategy here. Now the sessions today were amazing. I think the conversations that happened were very relevant to the topic that we have, which is the state of problematic affairs in India. So we are really happy to attend it and the kind of people I met was also amazing from across sectors, etc. For the future, I will say that we do this more often. I believe it only happens once a year. I think the way programmatic is evolving, I think this could make sense even if we do multiple events on the theme. So that would be very important. Thank you so much.