CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Heather Hansen, Shannon Beddoe, Maureen Edwards and Victoria Lunetta, McCarthy Hansen & Company LLP
equally share in property acquired during their relationship. The contributions of the spouse to the home (including contributions to childcare) and the length of the relationship are factors that the court will considering when assessing both the finding of unjust enrichment and in fashioning a monetary or non-monetary remedy. 2.7 Enforcement Enforcement falls under provincial jurisdiction and varies from province to province. A spouse has a combination of institutional enforcement and enforcement through the courts. An exam - ple of institutional enforcement can be found in the province of Ontario. There, the Family Responsibility Office enforces support obliga - tions using tools such as garnishment, seizing of driver’s licence and/or passports, and – in some cases – incarceration. Court-ordered enforcement can include pen - alties for non-compliance, contempt findings, and writs of seizure and sale. A party that fails to comply with a financial order may also be responsible for the moving party’s costs. Enforcement of International Orders Enforcement of international orders is governed either by treaty or common law. All provinces and territories except Quebec have reciprocal support arrangements with some countries and territories, such as the USA. However, Quebec has arrangements with a number of states, including California, Maine and Florida. Canada also has reciprocal support arrange - ments with Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe and the South Pacific. By way of example, Canada is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 23 November 2007 on the International Recovery
of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (the “2007 Hague Convention”). The 2007 Hague Convention is an international system for the cross-border recovery of child support and other forms of family maintenance. Some provinces, including Ontario and Mani - toba, have implemented the 2007 Hague Con - vention into a provincial law that provides the applicable procedures to enforce foreign child support orders. For the Ontario legislation, see Chapter 13 of the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act 2002. 2.8 Media Access and Transparency Canada enjoys freedom of expression protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Free - doms. This includes freedom of the press. In addition to freedom of expression, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects court openness as a procedural and substantive pro - tection. In the absence of a sealing order, there is no restriction on the media’s ability to access court proceedings and report on the proceeding. Canadian court proceedings are rarely televised except at the appellate level as a matter of cus - tom. However, there is no constitutional prohibi - tion. Anonymising of proceedings is required by stat - ute in child protection proceedings. Anonymisa - tion is available by way of application in domestic child-related proceedings based on both statute and common law and, rarely, may be ordered in financial proceedings based on common law. 2.9 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Parties are permitted by way of agreement to resolve their financial dispute outside of the court system. Parties must enter into a contract specifically agreeing to the form of dispute res - olution and the terms of the process. In some
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