“An intimate text is posted on Facebook for all her friends to see.” 

 “A picture of his tipsy girlfriend circulates on Twitter without her even knowing.”

These are real examples of cyberbullying and chances are you know someone who has been affected by it.

needhelpnow.ca is a new initiative launched by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection Inc., an organization dedicated to the personal safety of Canadian children and youth.  The site offers information and help resources for young people who have been impacted by a sexual picture, text or video being circulated among their peers via social networks. 

needhelpnow.ca offers real solutions for youth dealing with cyberbullying including information on who to contact to request a picture or video to be removed, guidance on how to report an incident and useful tips on how to recognize signs of bullying and taking steps to prevent this type of harassment. 

Using videos, plain language discussion and reflecting the sensitive nature of cyberbullying, needhelpnow.ca is a great go-to site for youth as well as teachers poised to start a discussion on this topic with their students. 

For more information on this subject check out our Common Question – What can you do about cyberbullying? – on Clicklaw.

BC lawyer John-Paul Boyd has updated his popular family law website, and with some help from Courthouse Libraries BC, it has been re-launched as a Clicklaw Wikibook, JP Boyd on Family Law.

JP Boyd on Family Law reflects the changes that came into effect in BC last month with the new Family Law Act. It offers practical, indepth information written in plain language on a wide range of family law topics, including:

• resolving problems out of court,
• family law agreements,
• child support & spousal support, and
• property & debt.

This new Clicklaw Wikibook includes over 50 “How Do I” pages, a legal glossary, links to court forms and examples of documents. JP offers the same tone and frank, pragmatic (and often humorous) approach to family law issues that made bcfamilylawresource.com such a valued resource.

JP Boyd on Family Law continues to complement other updated sources of family law information, including the Family Law in BC Website from LSS and other family law resources available through Clicklaw.

For more information about JP Boyd on Family Law, see the one-sheeter describing this new Clicklaw Wikibook and the news release announcing the launch of JP Boyd on Family Law.

What are Clicklaw Wikibooks?

Clicklaw Wikibooks are collaboratively developed, plain language legal publications that are born-wiki and can also be printed. Using the same technology that powers Wikipedia, they are updated over the Internet by a team of qualified contributors. They are free to access and download, and can be printed as a softcover book at a low cost. They enable legal information to be shared widely with British Columbians who seek reliable, up-to-date information to address legal issues or learn about the law.

The Clicklaw Wikibook format makes the information easy to search, easy to update, and easy to turn into a print resource. In fact, later this spring, we’ll be working with public libraries to make sure a print version of JP Boyd on Family Law is available at your public library.

Tags: Clicklaw Wikibooks, wikibook

Wondering about drinking and driving laws?  How much alcohol in your system makes it okay for you to drive?  Drinking and driving legislation is a very complex area of law, where both provincial (BC Motor Vehicle Act) and federal statutes (Criminal Code of Canada) apply, depending on the circumstances. 

 The British Columbia branch of the Canadian Bar Association features a recently updated Dial-a-law script titled Drinking & Driving that outlines the rights and responsibilities of someone who is stopped by the police and suspected of driving under the influence.

 Essentially, if you do drink and drive you can face three serious criminal charges:

 (a) displaying blood-alcohol level of over .08 or over eighty

 (b) demonstrating impaired driving due to alcohol or drug consumption, and

 (c) refusing to provide a breath sample without a lawful excuse. 

 What to do if you are charged with a drinking & driving offence , a guide published by LSS, is a good starting point for those interested in what happens when someone is charged with drinking and driving under the Criminal Code.   In summary, this guide explains the type of charges that apply, offers a checklist of what the prosecution must prove in court, outlines the steps involved in defending  yourself in court and what sentence one can expect if found guilty. 

 Both guides emphasize the complicated nature of drinking and driving offences and encourage clients to seek legal advice when necessary.

One of the significant changes brought about by the new Family Law Act is in the area of family violence, as briefly described in this Vancouver Sun article. In the words of BC Attorney General Shirley Bond, the new Act is about “ensuring children’s interest and safety are given the utmost priority”. Our newly updated common question directs you to three publications that can help you get started on understanding how the new law would deal with the subject matter.

The common question “What happens with parenting of the children in cases of wife abuse?” features the following resources on Clicklaw:

• Live Safe – End Abuse: Parenting provides brief information on your custody, guardianship and access rights.
• Surviving Relationship Violence and Abuse explains what women can do to protect themselves and their children.
• The Family Law Act: A Plain Language Guide for Women who have experienced abuse explains sections of the Family Law Act that affect women leaving or thinking of leaving an abusive relationship, including what happens with children after separation.

You may also want to check out Clicklaw’s common question: I want to learn more about the new BC Family Law Act. It features helpful resources for navigating the new BC Family Law Act.

By Nate Prosser (guest blogger)
Legal Services Society (Legal Aid BC)

This week saw a shake-up in family law as the new Family Law Act replaced the old Family Relations Act, and a slew of legal changes came into force. As a result of these changes, many of the family law publications produced before the act came into force are no longer legally accurate.

With this in mind, the Legal Services Society (LSS) has revised all of its family law and child protection publications. This included creating many new publications, from booklets to fact sheets and self help-guides, and revising more than 20 booklets, brochures, flow charts, and fact sheets. In addition to these, all information on the Family Law in BC website has been updated to reflect the new Family Law Act.

A list of new and revised resources can be found on the Family Law in BC website. All of the updated publications are available online and in print now (see also Families & children and Abuse & family violence in the publications section of the LSS website).

If you have any copies of these publications dated earlier than March 18, 2013, please recycle and replace them with the updated editions, as they are now incorrect.

Tags: guest column

Confused about the new BC Family Law Act?  The new BC Family Law Act is in force as of today (March 18, 2013), and the Legal Services Society has published three very helpful new resources that explain the many changes. We’ve combined these resources in  a new common question:

I want to learn more about the new BC Family Law Act

Here is what you can expect to find in the new LSS publications:

• The Guide to the New BC Family Law Act includes information about language changes, making agreements to stay out of court, parenting arrangements, child and spousal support, dividing property and debt, family law protection orders, and moving with children.
• The FAQ pamphlet, presented in a Q & A format, addresses how the new law affects family matters, touching on issues pertaining to children, property and debt, and support payments.  In also highlights some of the changes to legal terminology.
•  The Quick Reference Tool is a set of easy-to-understand visual cue cards that set out to explain the basics of the new family law and direct users to necessary next steps and resources.

You are facing a legal problem and you have reached a point where you decide to hire a lawyer.  You want to make sure you use their time well, but how do you do that?    The Law Society of British Columbia has published a number of helpful guides to assist clients who are seeking legal assistance and generally trying to learn more about lawyers’ professional code of conduct.

You and Your Lawyer is a brochure that describes the working relationship between lawyer and client.  Here you will find out about when to seek legal services, how to prepare for your initial meeting with your lawyer, how lawyers set their fees as well as ways to reduce your legal costs.

 Sometimes, you may have a complaint about your lawyer. Complaints About Lawyers explains what types of complaints the Law Society can investigate, and how to go about filing a complaint. It’s also a good source for finding out about professional standards and ethics governing lawyers.       

 Clicklaw offers complementary resources on this topic.  Check out our commonly asked questions:  My lawyer’s bill is too high , How do I make a complaint against my lawyer?

Do you know that Clicklaw has the Reform & Research section? It connects British Columbians to publications from organizations that work to improve and reform the laws, as well as to advance innovative solutions to meet legal needs in BC. One of them is our contributor BC Law Institute, the effective successor of the now-defunct BC Law Reform Commission. They have recently made three of their current projects available on Clicklaw.

• Technology, Remoteness, Disability & Evidence Project aims to generate practice support materials for lawyers and others about technologies to remove or reduce the disadvantages that persons with disabilities or those living in remote areas face when required to give evidence in court or before tribunals.
• Franchise Act Project considers the need for franchise legislation in BC and, in doing so, reviews the Uniform Franchises Act adopted by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada in 2005. The Act’s key provisions include dealing with disclosure, the duty of fair dealing, rights to rescission, damages for misrepresentation, and dispute resolution.
• Rationalizing and Harmonization of BC Common-Law Tests of Capacity. The project studies common-law tests of mental capacity, the legal threshold after which a person is considered mentally incapable in the eyes of the law. The goals are to study and illuminate selected common-law tests of capacity, to determine where the current law has shortcomings that require modernization or harmonization, and to recommend legislative reforms to address those shortcomings.

Check out more reports from BC Law Institute, or learn more about BC’s legal needs & innovative solutions on Clicklaw.

We have recently updated Clicklaw’s common question entitled “We want to start a refugee claim in Canada” to include two new resources from our contributor Legal Services Society. In addition, it also includes a new version of Refugee Hearing Preparation: A Guide for Refugee Claimants, from Kinbrace Community Society.

Legal Services Society published the new publications shortly after changes to Canada’s asylum system came into effect on December 15th last year.

• Refugee Claim Flow Chart explains the process involved and outlines the steps for refugee claimants.
• Need Help with Your Refugee Claim? outlines legal aid coverage for refugees and LSS’ immigration phone service in a bilingual infocard.

More resources on the subject are available on Clicklaw under the subtopic “refugees“. Another useful resource is the page “I want to claim refugee status in Canada” in the Legal Help for British Columbians Clicklaw wikibook.

Having commissioned a report called Public Legal Education and Information Resources Accessibility Initiative last year, our contributor Legal Services Society has taken steps to improve readability of their publications.

Their revised publications, which feature an attractive new design and an easy-to-read format, are now available via Clicklaw:

• Representing Yourself in a Criminal Trial – a booklet on what can happen when an accused person pleads not guilty to a summary offence. It includes a checklist to guide the accused through a trial, flow charts of court process before and at the trial, and a sample letter to Crown counsel.

• If You Are Charged with a Crime – a brochure on what happens if someone is charged with a criminal offence, including the court process, dealing with a lawyer, and getting legal aid or other legal help.

• Defending Yourself: Theft Under $5,000 – a booklet on how to defend yourself if you are charged with theft under $5,000. It includes a new flowchart that shows when various LSS publications can help at each stage of the criminal court process.