I promised in my post about custody to talk about family violence. In addition to common law torts like assault, there is specific legislation in family law that defines violence.
In Canada, there is both federal and provincial legislation including the federal Divorce Act and in British Columbia, there is the BC Family Law Act. Since the priority in family law is what is best for children, not only is the definition of family violence open-ended but family violence concerning children can be indirect such as overhearing or seeing violence being directed at someone else, like hearing the parents argue. The need is to prevent long-term damage not just immediate violence to children.
Comments