Bill 14, the Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2014, was introduced in the legislature today by Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Suzanne Anton, Q.C.

If passed, the amendments will affect the following provincial statutes:

Adult Guardianship Act and Patients Property Act - Proposed amendments will support a phased approach to implementation of the Adult Guardianship and Planning Statutes Amendment Act, 2007, with statutory guardianship provisions scheduled to come into force on Dec. 1, 2014. The proposed amendments will coordinate statutory guardianship under the Adult Guardianship Act with "court committeeship" under the Patients Property Act. It will also make some technical amendments.

Family Law Act - The proposed amendments will make minor but necessary corrections and clarifications to provisions of the act. The amendments clarify sections that deal with dividing property held in trust at the end of a relationship, and sections related to choosing the appropriate jurisdiction, law and court to determine property division.

Changes introduced today also include the addition of regulation-making authority to prescribe minimum standards for professionals who prepare reports that recommend parenting arrangements. Similar standards exist in regulations for other family law professionals, such as mediators. Consultations will inform the content of any regulations made as was done with earlier regulations setting standards for other family law professionals.

Family Maintenance Enforcement Act - The proposed amendments will make minor corrections to sections of the act affected when the Family Law Act came into force on March 13, 2013, and restores a section inadvertently deleted at that time. It corrects deletions to the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act that unintentionally occurred when the Family Law Act was drafted.

Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act - The proposed minor change provides greater clarity to two sections of the act in order to avoid unintended interpretations around which documents constitute both support applications and support variation applications under the act.

Police Act - As recommended by the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, amendments to the Police Act will give government the ability to set additional standards for police in B.C. that support bias-free policing, community input into policing priorities, as well as standards police are to use when conducting major case investigations. The changes introduced today will also empower government - specifically, the director of police services - to designate one police agency to audit another's major case investigation if it has remained unsolved for more than a year. The director could exercise this power when it is believed the investigating force may not have met provincial investigative standards.

Provincial Court Act - The proposed amendments will bring into effect the reorganization of the judicial administrative structure for greater efficiency. This includes the introduction of new regional administrative judge positions to support five judicial administrative regions. They also clarify a judge's ability to more effectively manage family matters in a courtroom, and provide municipalities the discretion to create a family court committee.

Wills, Estates and Succession Act - The proposed amendments do not make substantive changes or affect the policies underlying the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (WESA). If passed, amendments include:

• Correcting cross-references and changing the language of some sections to clarify meaning.
• Ensuring that WESA reflects changes brought about by the coming into force of parts of the Adult Guardianship and Planning Statute Amendment Act, 2007.
• Updating the definition of "spouse" to reflect changes brought about by the enactment of the Family Law Act.
• Correcting the operation of section 23 of WESA, which sets out the distribution of a deceased person's estate where they have no will.
• Ensuring that WESA works with the proposed new probate rules.
• Clarifying three sections relating to the role or responsibilities of the Public Guardian and Trustee.

Media Contact:

Lori DeLuca
Ministry of Justice
Attorney General
Government Communications and Public Engagement
250 953-3196

Ministry of Justice
Solicitor General
Government Communications and Public Engagement
250 213-3602