The principle 'best interests of the child' has been expanded by the legal community in recent years to apply to any matter involving children in family law proceedings. The weight ascribed to this principle, however, has been diluted. In custody, access and child protection cases, evidence of which custodial arrangements are in a child's interests are often presented by adult parties in prolonged and costly proceedings. The judge makes an order which is intended to meet the child's "best interests", in the child's absence. This paper first examines the historical and theoretical justifications for children's rights in Canadian and international law and the "best interests" principle. Second, the concept of "legal representation for children" is explored, with specific reference to inconsistencies in the jurisprudence concerning the role of independent representation for children. This paper argues that to truly reflect a custodial or access arrangement made in the child's "best interests", it is imperative that the child's voice be heard by the court through independent legal counsel assigned to represent that child's individual needs and concerns.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.99136 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Fleishman, Jodi Rebecca. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Laws (Institute of Comparative Law.) |
| Rights | © Jodi Rebecca Fleishman, 2005 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002338158, proquestno: AAIMR25038, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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