In a joint submission, West Coast LEAF and Rise Women’s Legal Centre responded to the BC Law Institute’s (BCLI) Consultation Paper on Parentage. The Consultation Paper suggests reforms that will update and modernize BC’s parentage laws under Part 3 of the Family Law Act (FLA). Parentage is the legal relationship between a parent and child. … Read more Joint submission to the BC Law Institute on Parentage
West Coast LEAF, alongside other legal advocates, impacted parents, and front-line family support organizations, has written a letter to the Premier and Minister of Child and Family Development to voice serious concerns about amendments made to Ministry of Child and Family Development’s (MCFD’s) Out-of-Care Policy. In the fall of 2023, MCFD amended its Out-of-Care Policy … Read more Open letter on changes to MCFD’s Out-of-Care Policy on Extended Family Program Agreements
West Coast LEAF, alongside Rise Women’s Legal Centre, has made a submission to the Department of Justice as it considers establishing a new Criminal Code offence for coercive control in the context of intimate relationships. Coercive control is a form of non-physical abuse or violence that uses psychological intimidation, threats, humiliation, financial or property abuse, … Read more Joint submission on the potential criminalization of coercive control
West Coast LEAF and Parents Advocating Collecting for Kin (PACK) are joined by leading BC rights organizations and advocates to call on the BC government to immediately end the harmful and discriminatory practice of involuntarily drug testing parents who are engaged with the family policing system, also known as the child welfare system. Involuntary drug … Read more Open letter calling for an end to harmful involuntary drug testing of parents
On June 15, 2023, West Coast LEAF appeared before BC’s Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services to share our key recommendations for Budget 2024…
West Coast LEAF, alongside the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity (CGSHE), has made a submission to the Justice Committee at the House of Commons as it deliberates on Bill S-224, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (trafficking in persons). Our submission urges the Committee to consider the danger of conflating sex work … Read more Joint submission with the Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity on Bill S-224
West Coast LEAF has made a submission to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, as part of the call for updates to TogetherBC: B.C.’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Our submission urges the ministry to take an intersectional and rights-based approach to ending poverty. Using findings from our comprehensive 2021/2022 Gender Equality Report Card, we describe how … Read more Submission on BC’s updated poverty reduction strategy
West Coast LEAF made a joint submission to the Ministry of Child and Family Development (MCFD) to provide input into the ministry’s work on social work oversight…
West Coast LEAF has joined a coalition of more than 125 leading BC organizations, academics, and advocates who are calling…
We are calling on the BC government and MCFD to dismantle the framework for policing families…