Methodology

This report includes data from six participating superior courts located in five jurisdictions across the country: Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon.4 Coders manually input data from court files into an electronic survey administered by Justice Canada. The survey collects data that are disaggregated by gender. It also captures whether or not parties were in a same sex relationship; however, due to the small sample size,5 this report does not provide a separate analysis of same sex couple data. The survey predominantly covers parents who were married and later divorced, and as a survey of court data, does not collect information on separating parents who do not use the court system.6 The findings of this report cannot be generalized beyond the participating courts, nor can any causal linkages be made regarding legal representation and case outcomes.

Footnotes

4 Data were not available for PEI cases between October and December 2019; some data were also missing for New Brunswick for the 2018-2019 period.

5 Five of the orders dealing with custody and access issues were from same sex couples.

6 Little information is available about the arrangements for separating parents who do not divorce, and those who were never married.