November is Family Violence Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness of this serious issue, and the ways Legal Aid Alberta can support claimants and respondents in these matters.
Legal Aid Alberta staff lawyer Jessica Chapman appeared on Global Morning News in Edmonton to discuss Emergency Protection Orders and other legal tools that can be used to address family violence.
A transcript appears below:
Transcript:
Vinesh Pratap: November is Family Violence Prevention Month, a time to raise awareness of this issue and the ways families can protect themselves. Here with us today to talk about Emergency Protection Orders, Legal Aid staff lawyer Jessica Chapman. Jessica, thank you so much for being here.
Jessica Chapman: Thank you for having me.
Pratap: I learn something every time we have these segments. For Emergency Protection Orders, just a little bit of – what they are what do they achieve?
Chapman: OK. So an Emergency Protection Order is meant to try and protect people who are experiencing family violence. So it has to be between family members; family violence has to have occurred and it has to be so serious or urgent that an order is needed for the immediate protection of the family member.
Pratap: OK, so take us through who, you know, when can someone apply for an EPO and you know and what do the nature of the circumstances need to be, and with that, you know, can they be under 18?
Chapman: So, you can have people apply who are under 18. Usually they need to be assisted by someone over the age of 18, but they can make an application. So sometimes we’ll see child welfare workers making applications, or perhaps police officers or another adult in the child’s life, but with respect to how you apply or what has to happen – there has to be family violence. And family violence is not just physical violence, there’s a lot of violence that can occur without any physical violence ever occurring. So, threats and intimidation can be so serious and urgent that they would qualify. There’s also stalking and sexual abuse are included in the definition in the Act and so there’s a quite a broad range of things.
Pratap: And so when an EPO is applied for is it, you know, granted fairly quickly:
Chapman: Yes. It can be applied for an emergency basis. So like all things in the legal system, it takes a little bit of time. So if you are applying for an Emergency Protection Order you should expect to spend the bulk of the day of the courthouse because you have to file an application, submit it to the court, and then wait for your turn to be heard. Emergency Protection Orders can be applied for after hours as well. We have a lot of dedicated justices of the peace sitting into the wee hours of the night and they hear those applications – sometimes by phone – and there’s a lot of information on the Government of Alberta website about how to apply that way.
Pratap: OK, so take us through, how does legal aid help in the process?
Chapman: We have offices in Edmonton and Calgary that are at the courthouse that people can call, they can talk to a lawyer about whether or not they should apply for an Emergency Protection Order or if some other application is better one to make, and then those lawyers will also help people do the application in provincial court. Once it gets to the Court of King’s bench review stage, which is the second stage, it has to be reviewed within nine working days. Every single claimant and respondent is allowed to have a free lawyer from legal aid no matter what their financial circumstances are because it’s so important to have people properly represented in these situations.
Pratap: That is a very significant and important thing to know. So aside from EPOs, are there any other tools out there?
Chapman: Yes. So a lot of people who are dealing with family violence may be dealing with divorce or separation and so in terms of other tools that legal aid provides we provide representation to people that financially qualify for family law matters they may need in order for exclusive possession they may need some rules and guidelines around parenting to keep the peace essentially and they may need types of financial support, so Legal Aid Alberta provides those things. There’s a lot of wonderful organizations in the sphere that provide those supports and so we do have justice navigators as well that can help refer people to those other supports that they need, to make sure that they get as much help as they can in a very difficult time.
Pratap: It’s certainly so. Well Jessica thank you for coming in and educating us on this very important topic again, as mentioned, during some very difficult times as some people go through. Thanks again for your time.
Chapman: Thank you.
Pratap: Well Legal Aid Alberta lawyers they specialize in family law, child welfare, domestic violence, immigration and youth and adult criminal defence. If you have a question for a lawyer send it to [email protected]