THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S PAGE

By the Honourable Niki Sharma, K.C.*

PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST IN B.C. LAW REFORM

My role as Attorney General is to make sure our justice system has the tools it needs to provide equitable and fair access to justice and services for all. That includes making sure our laws meet the needs of people today.

Reforms to the Election Act

For example, in early March (the time of writing this column), I introduced amendments to the Election Act, based on recommendations from British Columbia’s chief electoral officer, to make it easier for voters in British Columbia to cast their ballots, while continuing to combat disinformation, increase transparency and strengthen third-party advertising rules in the provincial electoral process.

We saw an unprecedented number of advance and mail-in ballots for the 2020 Provincial General Election. That’s why we have proposed changes to make voting-by-mail and confirmation of ballots more efficient and accessible for people by removing the requirement for a witness declaration, improving the identity verification process and making it easier to drop off ballots at other locations.

We are also taking steps to make sure our legislation keeps pace with the way people access information. Since the Election Act was designed at a time when the internet was not widely used, there’s a need to amend the Act to address online political campaigns and election advertising. That is why we are also establishing restrictions on intentionally making false statements about objective biographical information about candidates and senior officials of political parties, and cracking down on the spread of deliberate disinformation about voting eligibility, dates, times and locations. If passed, these amendments will enhance the integrity, transparency, accessibility and efficiency of provincial elections, making it easier for voters to make informed decisions.

Updating the Family Law Act to Better Meet the Needs of People Today

Another way we are taking a people-centred approach to legislation can be found in the Family Law Act. We recently consulted with British Columbians on updating the Family Law Act to address issues related to the division of property and pensions between spouses that were not contemplated when the Act came into force in 2013.

As someone who has devoted much of her law career to advocacy, I am proud that, in addition to respecting substantive law, which is informed by legal experts, we are also applying a social justice lens and consulting with the community to ensure we are hearing the right voices when developing new law reform solutions. An example of this can be found in the amendments to the Family Law Act

When it came into force in 2013, the Family Law Act introduced reforms to address the needs of families in British Columbia. As the primary private family law statute in British Columbia, the Act impacts almost all areas of family justice in the province. Ten years later, however, society has accepted a broader definition of “family”, including recognizing the rights of individuals who identify as 2SLGBTQ+. The modernization to the Act we are undertaking is based on its crucial importance to family justice in British Columbia, recent societal changes that have left gaps since the Act came into force and the development of case law and other legislative reforms such as to the Divorce Act since its enactment.

My ministry has begun a multi-year review of the Family Law Act. This review is being implemented in three phases to provide government, advocacy groups and the public ample opportunities to share their input over time.

Phase one covers pension division, property division and spousal support. We recently summarized the input from our public engagement on these topics in a “What We Heard” report posted on the B.C. government’s website: <https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/about-bcs-justicesystem/legislation-policy/current-reviews/family-law-act-modernization>.

Some of the key takeaways from the report include that most respondents felt that the Act should:

•clarify the types of court orders and agreements that can be made in relation to family pets when spouses separate;

•clarify how gifts between spouses should be handled when spouses separate and when a gift was one spouse’s excluded property; and

•end the common law principle of the presumption of advancement.

I am also pleased that our efforts to engage with Indigenous communities on this topic continue to look at how Indigenous cultural property is addressed under the property division provisions of the Family Law Act

Phases two and three are in development and will focus on issues including protection from family violence, guardianship and parenting arrangements, and parentage. We’re committed to continuing to engage with people from across British Columbia throughout all phases of the review.

New Legislation to Help People Better Protect Their Intimate Images

I was also honoured to introduce the Intimate Images Protection Act to better protect people from the harmful effects of having their intimate images shared without their consent and provide a clear legislated avenue for civil actions to seek monetary damages for harms suffered.

In 2020, Statistics Canada reported an eighty per cent increase in policereported incidents of non-consensual sharing of intimate images across the country compared to the previous five years. We know that there are even more cases that go unreported because of the embarrassment and ridicule that victims of this type of abuse can experience.

The legislation covers intimate images, near-nude images, videos, livestreams and digitally altered images, including videos known as “deepfakes”. It will create a new, fast-track process for getting a legal decision that an intimate image was recorded or distributed without consent and ordering people to stop distributing or threatening to distribute intimate images. If passed, it will provide recourse for minors to pursue legal action to stop the distribution of their private images and will also offer a clearer legal avenue for lawsuits to seek monetary damages for harms suffered. To support the legislation, the Civil Resolution Tribunal will expand its online portal to help people define their legal issues, provide information on their rights, access immediate self-help tools to begin remedial action and connect to community and mental-health supports.

The legislation is the result of in-depth consultations led by former Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity, Grace Lore. We heard loud and clear that people wanted a civil avenue to get their images offline as quickly and easily as possible. This process will complement the existing criminal process, which we know places a burden of proof on victims that can have traumatizing effects.

We know that victims of sexualized violence need not only access to justice, but also supports. This legislation is victim- and trauma-informed and is one part of the work we’re doing across government to address genderbased violence.

Gender-based violence happens in communities of every kind, urban and rural. It happens at work, at school and in the home. Indigenous women, immigrants and newcomers, racialized people, transgender people, gender-diverse people and others in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, as well as people with disabilities, are especially targeted with this form of violence. It’s for this reason that British Columbia has committed to develop an action plan to help prevent, address and respond to gender-based violence. The Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equity and the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General are leading the development of this plan to ensure survivors have access to the supports they need.

This will build on work already underway, including funding for sexual assault services and violence against women programs, safe housing for women leaving violence and paid leave for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

The misuse of non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) is another tool that has been used to prevent people from speaking out about unjust things like sexual misconduct and gender-based violence. That is why I was glad to hear the Canadian Bar Association adopted a resolution to rein in the use of NDAs with a near-unanimous vote of ninety-four per cent.

My staff is closely monitoring legislative developments in other jurisdictions and reviewing information provided through the “Can’t Buy My Silence” campaign and other sources, to determine if and how changes should be implemented in British Columbia. This work is in the early stages and will help us make sure any policy changes we make don’t have unintended consequences.

As always, it is crucial that we move carefully and intentionally so the changes we’re making are positive ones and do not perpetuate further harms for the people of British Columbia. It is with patience, dedication and intentional listening that we will be able to build a just, fair and equitable province supported by laws that always put people first.