AFCC Ontario Events

Expert Evidence: Effective Examination and Cross-Examination of a Mental Health Professional in a Relocation Case

Watch and learn from the dynamic duo of Julie Hannaford and Martha McCarthy and the experienced expert witness, Dan Ashbourne.  The process for having a mental health professional declared an expert will be reviewed and the strengths and weaknesses of the expert’s report will be critiqued throughout the mock trial.

Legal professionals will learn techniques to conduct an examination in chief and cross examination.

Mental health professionals will learn how to give evidence consistent with the scope of their expertise.

The Honourable Justice Heather McGee will preside to keep order in the Court!

This session will be held from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

A Social Reception will follow at 5:30-7:30.

Registration deadline: September 30, 2022

The Annual Conference will be held in Toronto at the Toronto Reference Library on Friday, October 14^th (in-person & virtually).

The Pre-Conference Institute will be held October 13^th in Toronto at The Advocates Society.

Take advantage of an Early Bird rate by registering before July 31^st.

This year, a panel of experienced family law and mental health professionals will explore a variety of topics “From the Child’s Perspective”.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: SAMRA ZAFAR
Samra Zafar is an award-winning international speaker, bestselling author, consultant, educator, and entrepreneur who advocates for gender equity, inclusion, and human rights. Her international bestseller, A Good Wife: Escaping The Life I Never Chose, depicts her experience as a child bride and how she escaped years of abuse to become one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.

OTHER SESSIONS include: Disclosure of Children’s Counselling Notes, Gender Non-Conforming Children’s Experience of Family Court, Openness Post-Adoption, Evidence of Culture in Family and Child Protection Proceedings, as well as testimonials from youth and young adults who have been involved in family court proceedings or raised in care.

Early Bird Registration Deadline: July 31, 2022

Final Registration Deadline: September 30, 2022

Registrants will have the option to select in-person or virtual attendance. Please note your attendance selection CANNOT be changed after September 30.

Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations will be accepted until September 30, 2022 minus a $50 administration fee. After September 30, registrations may be transferred to another individual for the original attendance type only (i.e. in-person, virtual).

Visit the Annual Conference webpage for full details of the event

For many lawyers who work in child protection, they are aware of openness orders but lack experience in litigation after the final extended care order is made. Their parent clients may have heard of openness and have unrealistic expectations of contact if and when an adoption occurs. The panel will explain the legal framework for Openness Applications and Openness Orders. It will share best practices for drafting of final extended care orders that include access and for advising parent clients. It will also clarify the adoption process, the potential role of mediation and the role of the child’s counsel in initiating Openness Applications.

Panelists:
Martha Chamberlain (Chamberlain Family Law)
Maggie Hall (Mediation North)
Ferdinand Herrera (CAS Toronto)
Justice Heather-Ann Mendes (Ontario Court of Justice)

Registration Deadline: June 20 @ 6:00 p.m.

The webinar access link and any program materials will be distributed within 24 hours of the webinar.

Justice Andrea Himel, Superior Court of Justice (Newmarket), Justice Marvin Kurz and Justice Kendra Coats, Superior Court of Justice (Milton) invite Ontario family law lawyers and law students to an engaging discussion about common missteps and oversteps to avoid at Court.

The session will include a broad range of mistakes including: procedural errors, misstating the facts or the law, unreasonableness, problematic written materials and more. Justices Himel, Coats and Kurz will explore the reasons behind the “rules” and “expectations” at court. Tips and strategies to improve effective oral and written advocacy will be shared with attendees.

In addition to this tip sheet, further resource materials will be provided.

Registration will remain open until the capacity limit is reached, or until April 6 at 5:00.

The webinar access link will be distributed the day prior to the event. 

We are grateful to AFCC Ontario Chapter (Maxine Kerr and Carolyn Leach, co-presidents) for hosting the webinar.

Speaker: Lisa Hamilton

Lisa Hamilton leads the Medical Malpractice-Health Disciplines Group at Bell Temple LLP. She is an astute and unwavering advocate of health care providers and the facilities where they work, defending malpractice and sex abuse suits at all levels of court in Ontario and related appeals, as well as Complaint and Discipline matters before the governing Colleges, the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal and the Information and Privacy Commission.

Deadline to Register: February 24 @ 5:00 p.m.

Webinar access link and any session materials will be sent to registrants within 24 hours of the event.

In this engaging session, video interviews of adult children of divorce will be presented along with commentary from the Honourable Justice Andrea Himel (Superior Court of Justice – Newmarket), Maxine M. Kerr (family law lawyer and mediator) and Dr. Shely Polak (PhD, MSW, RSW, Acc.FM). The session will include discussions around the impact of conflict, and the long-lasting effects of divorce on children. Dispute resolution options will also be presented and discussed.

Participants will leave with practical tips and strategies that are designed to assist families during challenging times. The program will conclude with open dialogue, bridging the gap between lawyers and mediators, to allow for a integrated process for families.

Registration Deadline: January 19 at 5:00 p.m.

Access link and presentation materials will be sent to registrants within 24 hours of the event.

Join panelists Haley Gaber-Katz (JFCS counsel), Ricardo Theoduloz (MSW), Carrie Hoffelnar (CAST), and the Honourable Justice Sherr as they discuss these crossover cases and how we can best serve children harmed by conflict.

1.     What are the impacts of conflict on children? How can we tell when conflict has risen to the level of emotional harm where the child is in need of protection?
2.     How does a Children’s Aid Society view emotional harm? High conflict? How to speak so they will listen? How can they speak so other professionals can hear them?
3.     How do judges identify children who are being impacted by conflict to a degree that makes the impact a protection concern?  How effectively do CAS’ approach emotional harm from high conflict? Parent’s counsel? What works and what doesn’t?

Deadline to Register: December 13

Access link and presentation materials will be sent to registrants within 24 hours of the event.

L’aliénation parentale et le refus (justifié ou non) d’un enfant d’avoir des contacts avec un parent sont des sujets de discussion « tendance » dans l’univers du droit familial. Notre panel d’experts composé d’une juge, une avocate du Bureau de l’avocat des enfants et une experte en santé mentale analyseront un scénario de faits où les enfants refusent les contacts avec un parent, soulevant ainsi des allégations d’aliénation parentale. Les panélistes examineront les problématiques soulevées dans ce scénario selon leur perspective distincte et offriront des conseils pratiques pour les professionnels impliqués dans des situations similaires.

Des faits seront ensuite ajoutés au scénario et les panélistes expliqueront si leur analyse et approche doit être modifiée. Le scénario sera fourni aux participants à l’avance pour allouer plus de temps d’analyse aux panélistes. Les participants sont vivement encouragés à lire et à se familiariser avec les scénarios, car ils ne seront pas relus au début de la formation.

Date limite pour s’inscrire : Le dimanche 15 novembre 2021 à 12h

Les informations pour accéder au webinaire et les documents additionnels seront distribués la veille de l’évènement

NATIONAL SELF REPRESENTED LITIGANTS PROJECT

Dayna Cornwall, Project Manager, National Self Represented Litigants Project

The core of the work of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project is to advocate for better and deeper understanding of the needs, motivations and challenges of self-represented litigants. They are committed to:

• Collaboration to enhance the responsiveness of the Canadian justice system to self-represented litigants (SRLs) and their direct participation in the change process, and continuing dialogue among all stakeholders who include SRLs, lawyers, judges and court services staff.

• The development of practical, focused, and accessible resources to assist self-represented litigants and to enhance understanding and co-operation among SRLs, lawyers, judges and court services staff, and to information and resource-sharing among all interested and affected parties.

This presentation will focus on the research on emerging areas of special interest to those affected by the SRL phenomenon, including jurisprudence, court and legal information services, and changes in legal practice to meet SRL needs (unbundling, coaching).