Virtual Library of Newspaper Articles

New child support law coming

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC by Mike Woloschuck, Journalist CBC Montreal Nov. 7, 2003

Marc Bellemare: law may help boost birth rate

QUEBEC CITY - Justice minister Marc Bellemare is tabling legislation to change what he calls the province's discriminatory child support system.

Children in 25,000 second marriages will be affected by the changes, which will allow judges to consider children from previous marriages when deciding on child support. Judges are currently prohibited from considering those children in support cases.

Bellemare said that Bill 21 will correct that problem and open the door to equitable child support for children, no matter how many half-siblings they have.

"A father or a mother might not have enough assets to give other children financial support like he does for the first one," said Bellemare.

Family lawyer Jocelyn Verdon said the new law is overdue.

"Sometimes the husband has no money left when he has to pay the first alimony," said Verdon. "So this law gives the judge the tools to make some adjustments."

Bellemare said the current law discriminates against low-income parents to the point that it may even discourage them from having children with new partners.

He said that Bill 21 may reverse that trend and give Quebec's sagging birth rate a boost.

2003 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

A Quote Worth Remembering

"We must vigilantly stand on guard within our own borders for human rights and fundamental freedoms which are our proud heritage......we cannot take for granted the continuance and maintenance of those rights and freedoms."

John Diefenbaker
(1895-1979)

A Quote Worth Remembering

About The truth

"All truth passes through three stages. First it is ridiculed, Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident."

Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)

A Quote Worth Remembering

"In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect."

Bill Clinton
(William J. Clinton)
42nd President of The United States of America

Canada's
national "Child Day"

November 20th

Canada's "Child Day" is held on November 20th each year as designated by the Parliament of Canada in 1993.

It commemorates the United Nations adoption of two landmark documents concerned with the human rights of all children and youths.  Read More ..

United Nations

Canadian appointed U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights

Louise Arbour

Louise Arbour took up her duties on July 1, 2004 as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Her term in office ended in June 2008.

Mrs. Arbour was a member of the Supreme Court of Canada immediately preceding her appointment to the UN as  Commissioner for Human Rights.

Law Times

Louise Arbour: a colleague we have failed

Law Times, Canada
22 September 2008

This profession - and all of us in it - have failed to protect, honour, and defend one of our most accomplished and distinguished members. We have let Louise Arbour down by our silence when she needed and deserved voices of support.

On July 1, Arbour stepped down as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, an enormously prestigious and important international position.

The gratitude and praise which greeted her at the end of her term was shamefully muted. Arbour was a courageous champion of human rights, and a bold critic of the erosion of those basic tenets in our world.

She was never timid. She was never chained to a desk, was involved, hands on, outspoken, and challenging. She breathed life into the enormous portfolio that she was asked to take on.

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INDEPTH: DAY CARE

Day Care in Canada

CBC Television News Online, February 9, 2005

It was first proposed in 1970 a program that would provide affordable day care across the country. It was promised when Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives swept to power in 1984. And again four years later.

By the time Jean Chretien's Liberals did some political sweeping of their own in 1993, promises of a national day-care strategy had fallen victim to the realities of a government wallowing in debt. With budgetary knives sharpened and drawn, day care would have to wait.

But the economic climate began to shift and in 1997, Quebec introduced its own day-care system, offering spaces at $5 a day. Demand quickly surpassed supply.