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Report on Family Law Research in Nunavut

2003-FCY-3E

ENDNOTES

  • [1]  Legal Services Act (Nunavut), R.S.N.W.T. 1988, c. L-4, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [2]  A detailed discussion of the methodology underlying this research report, including recommended approaches for future empirical studies, is set out in Appendix One.

  • [3]  Maligarnitt Qimrujiit, First Report to the Premier, (Iqaluit: Territorial Legislature, 2000). There has been a long history involving the changing of names in Nunavut. In about 1960, the Government of Canada started a program of assigning numbers to Inuit, a system of "E-numbers." In the 1970s, trying to make up for that failed program, there was a rapid name registration initiative "Project Surname." Due to differing orthographies for Inuktitut, lack of knowledge of family relationships, and other problems, the majority of names were misspelled. In some cases, people's last names were recorded as their first, and so forth. Undoing the project, however, has created an ongoing problem. Misspelled names have long been source of friction between the government and people in the community.

  • [4]  Nunavut Act, S.C. 1993, c.28.

  • [5]  Canada, Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Agreement Between the Inuit of the Nunavut Settlement Area and Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada (Ottawa: Minister of Supplies and Services, 1993) (hereinafter the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement).

  • [6]  See, for example, Jens Dahl, Jack Hicks and Peter Jull (eds), Nunavut: Inuit regain control of their lands and their lives, (Copenhagen: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, 2000). A definite classic is John Merritt, Randy Ames, Terry Fenge, and Peter Jull, Nunavut: Political choices and manifest destiny (Ottawa: Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 1989).

  • [7]  See, for example, the Government of Nunavut's first major cabinet policy statement, the Bathurst Mandate Pinasuaqtavut, that which we've set out to do (Iqaluit, 1999).

  • [8]  See discussion at section 2.3.3, and John Clement and Amanda Parraig, "A Review of Reported Crime Statistics in Nunavut Communities", (Ottawa: Justice Canada Research and Statistics, 2000); and John Evans, Robert Hann, and Joan Nuffield, "Crime and Corrections in the Northwest Territories" (unpublished, 1998), Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2000, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statscan Cat. No. 85-224, Report on Inuit Women, in Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, Changing the Landscape, Ending Violence, Achieving Equality (Ottawa: Supply and Services, 1993); Mary Crnkovich, Lisa Addario, and Linda Archibald, "Research Report: Inuit Women and the Nunavut Justice System" (Ottawa: Justice Canada Research and Statistics); Pauktuttit, the Inuit Women's Organization, has issued numerous reports identifying problems of this type, including "Inuit Women and the Administration of Justice, Phase 1: Project Report, 1993", "Phase 1, Progress Report #1", and "Phase 2, Progress Reports #2." See also Margo Nightingale, "Judicial Attitudes and Differential Treatment: Native Women in Sexual Assault Cases" (1991) 23 Ottawa Law Review 71; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Report, Vol. 3 Chapter 2, (Ottawa: Supply and Services, 1996) Rosemary Kuptana, "No more secrets: acknowledging the problem of child sexual abuse in Inuit communities: The first step towards healing", (Ottawa: unpublished paper for Pauktuttit , 1991); Michelle Ivanitz, "Traditional Family Law: Inuvialuit and Kitikmeot Region" (Yellowknife: unpublished paper for Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, 1991); and Marie Uviliq, "Traditional Family Law: Baffin and Keewatin Regions" (Yellowknife: unpublished paper for Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, 1990).

  • [9]  Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, http://www.stats.gov.nu.ca.

  • [10]  There are significant groups of Inuit in Nunavik, in Northern Quebec and in Labrador. As well, the Inuvialuit are a closely related ethnic group living in the Northwest Territories. Finally, a number of Inuit live in major urban centres, particularly Ottawa and Edmonton.

  • [11]  Statistics Canada, Census 1996. Reprinted from GNWT Statistics at http://www.stats.gov.nt.ca.

  • [12]  In Arviat, the employment rate was 40.3 percent; in Clyde River and Gjoa Haven, the employment rate was 34.9 percent; Hall Beach 35.8 percent and Igloolik, 38.4 percent; Sanikiluaq 39.2 percent. Employment rate is defined as persons over 16 years of age who did any paid work in the week prior to the survey or were absent from their job or business because of vacation, illness, labour dispute or so forth. The survey notes conventional definitions of unemployment tend to under-report the phenomenon in Nunavut, due to small community size and the scarcity of known jobs, which mean many of those actively wanting a job have not participated in a job search over the previous four weeks on the basis of an informed belief that there are no jobs available. Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, 1999 Nunavut Labour Force Survey: Overall Results and Basic Tables (Iqaluit: Government of Nunavut, 1999.) Also available at http://www.stats.gov.nu.ca.

  • [13]  Based on an 11-year period between 1986-96, the annual suicide rate in Nunavut is 77.4 per 100,000; among Inuit, the rate is 79.3 per 100,000. In Canada as a whole the rate in 1992 was 13 per 100,000. Source: NWT Health and Social Services Publications, Suicide in the Northwest Territories: A Descriptive Review at
    http://www.hlthss.gov.nt.ca/publicat/suicide/summary/sec02.htm.

  • [14]  Department of Health and Social Services, Northwest Territories Health Status Report 1999 (Yellowknife: GNWT, 2000) reported that the rate of accidental death in the NWT in 1994-5 was twice the national average (p.34), and noted the correlation between injury-related deaths and Potential Years of Life Lost. See http://www.hlthss.gov.nt.ca/content/Publications/pubresult.asp?ID=215.

  • [15]  All statistics on alcohol, drugs and solvents from the Bureau of Statistics, Government of the Northwest Territories, Northwest Territories Drug and Alcohol Survey 1996 (Yellowknife: GNWT) or at http://www.stats.gov.nt.ca/Statinfo/Health
    /alcdrug/Alcohol_Drug.html    .

  • [16]  Nunavut Housing Corporation occupancy statistics as cited in Nunavut Housing Corporation Business Plan, 2001.

  • [17]  Report of the Minister's Task Force on Housing, Government of Nunavut, 2000.

  • [18]  Local Housing Organization waiting lists, August, 2000 as cited in Nunavut Housing Corporation Business Plan, 2001.

  • [19]  1999 Nunavut Labour Force Survey, supra note 12.

  • [20]  Bathurst Mandate, supra note 7.

  • [21]  For a particularly egregious example, see noted legal anthropologist E.A. Hoebel, "The Eskimo: Rudimentary Law in a Primitive Anarchy" in The Law of Primitive Man: A Study in Primitive Legal Dynamics (New York: Atheaneum, 1979, c.1954).

  • [22]  Marie Uviliq, "Traditional Family Law: Baffin and Keewatin Regions" (Yellowknife: unpublished paper for Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, 1990) at 6.

  • [23]  Bathurst Mandate, supra note 7.

  • [24]  There is extensive literature on this subject. Jean Briggs, Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970) is probably the best known. See also a recent work of oral history: Naqi Ekho and Uqsuralik Ottokie, Interviewing Inuit Elders: Childrearing Practices, Jean Briggs, editor (Iqaluit: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001), which records memories of child-rearing traditions.Other ethnographies include Minnie Aodla Freeman, Life Among the Qallunaat (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1978) and Charles Hughes, Eskimo Boyhood (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1974).

  • [25]  See the Nunavut Act, supra; An Act to amend the Nunavut Act with respect to the Nunavut Court of Justice and to amend other Acts in consequence, S.C. 1999, c. 3, amending S.C. 1993, c. 28.; Nunavut Judicial System Implementation Act, S.N.W.T. 1998, c.34 as enacted for Nunavut, pursuant to the Nunavut Act.

  • [26]  See W. G. Morrow, Northern Justice: The Memoirs of Mr. Justice William J. Morrow26, W.H. Morrow, ed. (Toronto: Osgoode Society, 1995) and Jack Sissons, Judge of the Far North: The Memoirs of Jack Sissons (Toronto: McLelland & Stewart, 1968).

  • [27]  Katherine Peterson, The Justice House: Report of the Special Advisor on Gender Equality (Yellowknife: GNWT, 1992).

  • [28]  Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, Family Law Review Report (Yellowknife: GNWT, 1992).

  • [29]  Department of Justice Canada, "Options for Court Structures for Nunavut: A Discussion Paper" (Ottawa: 1997).

  • [30]  A recent bibliography compiled by the Department of Justice Canada Research and Statistics Division provides an overview of the literature: Naomi Giff, "Nunavut Justice Issues: An Annotated Bibliography" (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada) 2000.

  • [31]  Katherine Peterson, supra note 27.

  • [32]  Statistics from the Nunavut Maintenance Enforcement Office were provided by Charlene Johnson, Director of Maintenance Enforcement, in an email report January 31, 2001.

  • [33]  There is relatively little recorded about community justice initiatives to date. Notable exceptions are: Scott Clark, "Report on Community-Based Justice in Nunavut: Focus Group Consultations with Community Justice Committees" (Iqaluit: Nunavut Justice, 2000) and Nunavut Social Development Council, "Towards Justice that Brings Peace: Nunavut Social Development Council Justice Retreat and Conference" (Iqaluit: author, 2000).

  • [34]  Options for Court Structures in Nunavut, supra.

  • [35]  Two recent reports look at these issues: John Clement and Amanda Parraig, "A Review of Reported Crime Statistics in Nunavut Communities" (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada Research and Statistics Division, 2000); and John Evans, Robert Hann and Joan Nuffield, "Crime and Corrections in the Northwest Territories" (unpublished, 1998).

  • [36]  Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 1996 cited in Evans, Hann and Nuffield, supra note 35, at 3-4. These statistics are based on offenses reported to the police and subject to initial verification by the police.

  • [37]  See generally Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile 2000, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Statscan Cat. No. 85-224.

  • [38]  Report on Inuit Women, in Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, Changing the Landscape, Ending Violence, Achieving Equality (Ottawa: Supply and Services, 1993).

  • [39]  Clement and Parraig, supra note 35 at p. 5. Reports are considered to have been founded when, after investigation, it is determined there is evidence to support the initial report. Clearance rates refer to reports where a criminal charge is laid or alternative disposition takes place.

  • [40]  Evans, Hann and Nuffield, supra note 35 at p. 7-8, show that the conviction rate in the Northwest Territories is almost 50 percent higher than the Canadian average.

  • [41]  See Mary Crnkovich, Lisa Addario and Linda Archibald, "Research Report: Inuit Women and the Nunavut Justice System" (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada Research and Statistics Division) for a review of this literature. Pauktuttit, the Inuit Women's Organization, has issued numerous reports identifying problems of this type, including "Inuit Women and the Administration of Justice, Phase 1: Project Report, 1993", "Phase 1, Progress Report 1", and "Phase 2, Progress Reports 2." See also Margo Nightingale, "Judicial Attitudes and Differential Treatment: Native Women in Sexual Assault Cases" (1991) 23 Ottawa Law Review 71.

  • [42]  See Human Resources Development Canada, FPT Committee on Child and Family Services Information, Statistical Report 1994-1997, located at http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/socpol/cfs/statreports/94-95x96-97/rep-rap/pdf. See Table A and figures, p. 96. PDF Help

  • [43]  See e.g. Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Report, Vol. 3, Chapter 2 (Ottawa: Supply and Services, 1996).

  • [44]  See Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, supra note 22. See also Rosemary Kuptana, "No more secrets: acknowledging the problem of child sexual abuse in Inuit communities, the first step towards healing" (Ottawa: unpublished paper for Pauktuttit , 1991); Michelle Ivanitz, "Traditional Family Law: Inuvialuit and Kitikmeot Region" (Yellowknife: unpublished paper for Ministerial Working Group on Family Law Reform, 1991).

  • [45]  Aboriginal Custom Adoption Act (Nunavut) S.N.W.T. 1994, c.26 as amended, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [46]  Children's Law Act (Nunavut) S.N.W.T. 1997, c. 14, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [47]  Family Law Act (Nunavut) S.N.W.T. 1997, c. 18, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [48]  Children and Family Services Act (Nunavut) S.N.W.T. c.13, as amended, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [49]  Adoption Act (Nunavut), S.N.W.T 1998, c.9 as amended for Nunavut.

  • [50]  Maintenance Orders Enforcement Act (Nunavut), R.S.N.W.T. c.M-2 as amended, as amended for Nunavut.

  • [51]  Children's Law Act, supra note 47, s.17.

  • [52]  Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access, For the Sake of the Children: Report of the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access (Ottawa: Parliament of Canada, 1998).

  • [53]  Government of Canada, "Strategy for Reform: Government of Canada's Response to the Report of the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access." Ottawa: Department of Justice, 1999.

  • [54]  For the full text of the Principles and Objectives on Custody and Access Reform, see page 4 of the federal-provincial-territorial consultation document, Putting Children's Interests First: Custody, Access and Child Support in Canada, available at http://canada.justice.gc.ca/eng/cons/pol.pdf PDF Help .

  • [55]  See e.g. Jean Briggs, Inuit Morality Play: The Emotional Education of a Three-Year-Old. (St. John's: Institute of Social and Economic Research, and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).

  • [56]  Marie Uviliq, supra note 22, at 12.

  • [57]  See, e.g., Vanier Institute of the Family, Profiling Canada's Families II, (British Columbia: Vanier Institute, 2000) at 22–23 reports that 3,975,080 families made up of two parents and their child or children out of a total of 7,838,865 families. It is difficult to make comparisons with the Nunavut data because the table does not consider the presence of extended family members.

  • [58]  See Uviliq, supra note 22, at pp. 7-13.

  • [59]  Jane George, "Babies Having Babies: An Explosion of Infants Born to Teenage Mothers", Nunatsiaq News, May 19, 2000. There are limited statistics for Nunavut on teenage pregnancy, and public health officials rely considerably on anecdotal evidence. George reports that nurses in Arviat were estimating that 15 babies would be born to the 65 girls under 19 in the community, almost 10 times the national average. She also reports an unnamed former CEO of the Baffin Regional Health Board saying that the average age at which women in the Baffin region give birth to their first child has tumbled over the years from 16 to 18 years of age to 14 to16 years. Statistics Canada figures for the NWT in 1994 report a teen pregnancy rate of 67 out of 1000 for girls from 15-19, and 12.6 out of 1000 for girls under 15. The population estimate is based on Nunavut Statistics Community Population Estimates at: http://www.stats.gov.nu.ca/Statinfo/Deomgraphics
    /nunest/popest_Nunavut.pdf     PDF Help .

  • [60]  Figure 1 is based on a subtraction of the number of years ago the eldest child joined the family from the age of the parent for 248 respondents. There were a number of inconsistencies in the recording of the data. Although respondents answered the year that each child joined, to a maximum of nine children, only data for the first two children were entered. It was noted that the first entry was the oldest child, and the graph is based on the date of entry to the family of the eldest child, although it is possible that the date a child joined the household could have been earlier than the date the eldest child joined (in stepparent or adoption situations).

  • [61]  Children's Law Act, supra note 46, s.20(2).

  • [62]  Interview, Marie Irniq, Director of Adoptions and Child and Family Services, Nunavut Department of Health and Social Services, January 19, 2001. She notes that about 10 percent of adoptions in the NWT were among Dene.

  • [63]  [1999] N.W.T.J. No. 94. There is significant case law recognizing Aboriginal custom adoption in the Northwest Territories. Judge Sissons, in Re: Katie Adoption Petition (1961) 38 W.W.R. 100 (N.W.T.T.C.) was the first to recognize that custom adoption was part of the law of the NWT. The NWT Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion in Re: Wah-Shee (1975), 57 D.L.R. (3d) 743. Two later decisions of the NWT Supreme Court clarified that the court's role in custom adoptions was "merely declaratory": Re: Tagornak Adoption Petition, [1984] 1C.N.L.R. 185; C.(A.) v. G.(V.) [1992] N.W.T.R. 236.

  • [64]  Aboriginal Custom Adoption Act, S.K.K. v. J.S., at para 30.

  • [65]  See e.g. Mariano Aupilaarjuk, Marie Tulimaaq, Akisu Joamie, Emile Imaruittuq, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Interviewing Inuit Elders: Perspectives on Traditional Law, ed. Jarich Oosten, Frederic Laugrand and Wim Rasing, (Iqaluit: Arctic College, 2000) at 144.

  • [66]  Aupilaarjuk et al., supra note 65 at 148 quoting Imaruittuq; interview with Sandra Omik, Chief Commissioner of MQ, July 17, 2001.

  • [67]  Clearly, the NWT also has a custom adoption process. Overall, however, according to the Director of Adoptions, only about 10 percent of the custom adoptions took place in the Western NWT before the division of the territory.

  • [68]  We are not sure why this rate should be so much greater in this particular section. Possible reasons are confusion arising from the design of the survey instrument in this section, which did not reveal itself in the training sessions but showed itself in the field, and reticence in discussing questions relating to marriage as opposed to other types of family law issues.

  • [69]  See http://www.statcan.ca/english/census96/oct14/mar2/htm.

  • [70]  See Goss Gilroy Inc., Study to Examine the Socio-Demographic Situation of Aboriginal Women, Preliminary Data Phase (Ottawa, 1994).

  • [71]  The average age of divorced or separated respondents was 38 years.

  • [72]  We have approached this question with some reservations about the reliability of these figures. In particular, respondents are likely to have under-reported prior common-law relationships, and therefore the figures may not reflect actual first relationships, or the population sample may be very small.

  • [73]  So, for example, when we asked married, married and separated, and divorced people (n=135) if this was their first marriage, 44 (32 percent) said yes and 90 either did not answer or said the question did not apply to them. When we asked the same group whether they had lived common law with their present spouse before marriage, 33 said yes, 12 said no and 90 did not answer or said the question did not apply to them. Similarly, when we asked people in common-law relationships (n=87) if they had had previous common-law relationships not leading to marriage, 12 said yes, 35 said no, and the rest did not answer or said the question did not apply to them.

  • [74]  Note the smaller number of male respondents overall.

  • [75]  Some minor differences include, for example, a time limit after the end of a relationship to apply for support or a division of property. Sandra Omik, Law Reform Commissioner, has noted that the law treats a married child as emancipated, but does not accord the same status to a young person in a common-law relationship.

  • [76]  For Nunavut, these figures are for the total population over age of 15: 15,240 persons.

  • [77]  See http://www.statcan.ca/english/pgdb/People/Families/famil01.htm.

  • [78]  The story "Arnaq Ningaijauvaktuq (The Woman Who Was Physically Abused)" is retold by Alexina Kublu, based on the story her father would tell her as a child, in Aupilaarjuk et al., supra note 65 at pp. 153-156.

  • [79]  Compare, for example, the prevalence of violence nationally, documented in Family Violence in Canada, supra note 35, and the high rates of assault and sexual assault reported in Evans, Hann and Nuffield (1998) and in Clement and Parraig (2000). This may be attributed to a number of factors: use of local surveyors, particularly male surveyors, may have a limited sense of privacy in discussing these matters. A survey format may simply be an inappropriate way of probing these issues. It is important to try to grasp the extent of this problem. For example, there is a clear need, as others have pointed out, to begin to record whether or not charges of assault and sexual assault are occurring in a domestic context.

  • [80]  See, e.g., Nancy Wachowich (in collaboration with Apphia Agalakti Awa, Rhoda Kaukjak Katsak and Sandra Pikujak Katsak), Saqiyuk: Stories from the Lives of Three Inuit Women (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1999); Final Report of the Canadian Panel on Violence Against Women, supra note 38; Mary Crnkovich, ed., Gossip: A Spoken History of Women in the North (Ottawa: Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, 1989).

  • [81]  Nunavut Implementation Commission, "Two Member Constituencies and Gender Equality: A Made in Nunavut Solution for an Effective and Representative Legislation" (Iqaluit: 1994).

  • [82]  See statistics from Labour and Income Dynamics Survey reported at http://www.statcan.ca/English/pgbd/People/ Labour/labor01a.htm.

  • [83]  One recent qualitative study of women's work experience in Nunavut is Colleen Purdon, "Inuit Women in Iqaluit, Nunavut: Draft Site Report" in First Nations and Inuit Women Speak about Diminishing Conflicts Between their Cultural Context and their Education/Work Context (forthcoming); see also Nunavut Labour Force Survey, 1999, supra note 12.

  • [84]  Selected Dwelling Characteristics From Canada Census, reported at http:/www.statcan.ca/English/pgbd/ People/Families/famil099.htm.

  • [85]  Family Law Act, supra note 48 ss. 47-56.

  • [86]  Email, Chris D'Arcy to author, January 26, 2001.

  • [87]  Ibid.

  • [88]  See e.g. M.E. Turpel, "Home/land" (1991) 10 Canadian Journal of Family Law 17.

  • [89]  Government of Northwest Territories Statistics, "Marital Status and Families" at http://www.stats.gov.nt.ca/Statinfo/Census/
    census96/_1996census.html    , and Statistics Canada, 1996 Census: Marital Status, Common-law Unions and Families (The Daily, Thursday October 14, 1997).

  • [90]  There were 17 respondents, or 7.6 percent of the sample, whose marital status is undefined. Accordingly, the percentages in the above paragraph do not add up to 100.

  • [91]  Statistics based on Vanier Institute of Canada, supra note 58 at pp. 22-34.

  • [92]  See Colin Lindsay, Lone-parent Families in Canada. (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1992).

  • [93]  A significant number of lone parents (9) did not identify their marital status, more than identified themselves as divorced or separated.

  • [94]  Vanier Institute of the Family, supra note 58 at pp. 70-71.

  • [95]  See Canada, Department of Justice, Selected Statistics on Canadian Families and Family Law, second edition. CSR-2000-1E, Ottawa 2000, particularly pp. 6-7 and 12-13.

  • [96]  Vanier Institute of the Family, supra note 58, pp. 66-67.

  • [97]  Thirty-one people (9 percent of the sample) did not answer the question.

  • [98]  Seven respondents did not answer the question, and we believe most of those respondents did not report having children at all.

  • [99]  Only 23 respondents provided an answer.

  • [100]  Ten did not answer with whom else they were living.

  • [101]  There is no way to know with certainty whether this spouse was also the parent, however, the format of the question (see household survey questionnaire Children B1 and C1) suggests that the spouse would be someone who was not a parent of the child.

  • [102]  Celine LeBourdais, Heather Juby and Nicole Marcil-Gratton, Keeping Contact with the Children: Assessing the Father/Child Post-separation Relationship from the Male Perspective (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada, Family, Children and Youth Section: CSR-2000-3E).

  • [103]  Ibid.

  • [104]  All (7) parents who lived far away no longer saw their children. More likely, this should be interpreted as seven out of nine parents, since in two cases the parent reported that one or more children lived both in their own community and in a distant community.

  • [105]  Thirty-four did not answer each of these questions.

  • [106]  See Peterson, supra note 27,and Ministerial Family Law Reform Working Group, supra note 28.

  • [107]  It is possible that the question was not well understood. We know the surveyors understood the question, but if people did not understand or ask for clarification, this phenomenon may have been under-reported.

  • [108]  Of this group, 10 did not answer the question.

  • [109]  Five people did not answer this question.

  • [110]  Four of nine recipients said they received support regularly. Eleven of 22 payors said they paid regularly.

  • [111]  Three of nine recipients said they received payments at least several times a year; five of 22 said they paid on that basis.

  • [112]  Two recipients reported receiving support occasionally, and six payors reported paying less than several times a year.

  • [113]  All statistics from the Nunavut Maintenance Enforcement Office were provided by Charlene Johnson, Director of Maintenance Enforcement, in an emailed report on January 31, 2001.

  • [114]  Based on a comparison between the rate of respondents who reported receiving child support and the percentage of the population represented by the files in the Maintenance Enforcement Office. The difference, between three and eight times, reflects the margin of error in our survey.

  • [115]  Of all respondents, including the 49 who did not answer.

  • [116]  On March 1, 2000, the total arrears were $1,939,809.17. As of January 31, 2001, they were $1,690,416.90. This is a reduction of $249,397.27.

  • [117]  We also asked whether the actual arrangements for spending time with children had mirrored agreements or court orders. However, we received responses from only 12 of the 27 respondents to whom the question might have applied: seven said the time was close to what the court ordered, four said it was more than what was ordered, and one said it was less.

  • [118]  Report to Justice Canada Child Support Team, Canadian Facts, "Survey on Arrangements Dealing with Custody and Access," unpublished background paper and Canadian Facts, "Survey of Parents' Views on the Child Support Guidelines," Report to Justice Canada Child Support Team, unpublished background paper.

  • [119]  See, for example, the very interesting ethnographic work of Phyllis Morrow, "Yupik Eskimo Agents and American Legal Agencies: Perspectives on Compliance and Resistance", 1996 2 Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 405.

  • [120]  Stakeholder consultation on June 13, 2001.

  • [121]  Canadian Facts, Survey of Arrangements, supra note 118.

  • [122]  Fifty people did not answer these questions.

  • [123]  Sixteen people did not answer this question.

  • [124]  The American Psychological Association, for example, has pointed to research indicating serious problems with couples counselling in domestic violence situations: see American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, Violence in the Family: Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family (Washington: Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, 1996). Executive Summary.

  • [125]  See also Sharon Gullberg, Child Support Law Information Needs of Aboriginal People in the Northwest Territories, Phase 2 (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada, Child Support Team, BP24E); Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia, Northern BC First Nations Communities Child Support Needs Survey (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada, Child Support Team, BP21E). Gullberg's paper, according to its terms of reference, addressed only information needs of the Western Northwest Territories. Her conclusion about training intermediaries to deliver legal information is supported by our research, but findings differed significantly in terms of the nature of demand for legal information or identification of appropriate intermediaries.

  • [126]  Interview, Bonnie Tulloch, Executive Director of the Legal Services Board, June 13, 2001.

  • [127]  For example, the CJC in Sanikilluaq preferred to go slowly, even within the criminal law area.

  • [128]  See also Goss Gilroy Inc., Study to Examine the Socio-Demographic Situation of Aboriginal Women, Preliminary Data Phase, cited supra note 70.

  • [129]  All population statistics in this section from Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, "Nunavut: Community Population Estimates, 1997/1998/1999" (Iqaluit: 1999).

  • [130]  Iqaluit, 72 respondents; Cambridge Bay, 27 respondents; Pond Inlet, 151 respondents; Coral Harbour, 66 respondents; Chesterfield Inlet, 26 respondents.

Date Modified: 2012-08-03

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