Alberta law institute report maps out how children can be heard in court

Law360 Canada (April 22, 2026, 3:21 PM EDT) -- An Alberta-based legal institute has issued a report it says will help lawyers and the public understand the ways in which the voice of the child can be heard in family court proceedings.

The paper from the Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI) describes the ways in which children may participate in proceedings under the Divorce Act, Family Law Act and the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act in the province.

ALRI counsel Matthew Mazurek said historically courts in Canada tended to take what he called a “welfare-oriented” approach, and excluding children from family disputes was necessary so they could be better protected — but things like Canada’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which calls for children’s participation in matters that effect them, started to change people’s views.

“One of the reasons we are doing this report is because we’ve done some research and many people have agreed that the law isn’t very clear about how children can participate and the ways in which they can participate,” he said. “And because there isn’t any clear guidance in the law, it’s often left to people who are subject to the dispute or to judges to determine the best ways to do this.”

The paper says there is no definitive “best way” to hear a child’s views in court but outlines several approaches that can be used and the pros and cons of each, including letters or recordings created by the child, direct evidence from the child, judicial interviews and getting the child independent legal advice.

Mazurek said that latter approach is one of the most popular ways that children’s voices are heard in Alberta.

“Another approach that is commonly used is having a psychologist or a clinical social worker do a voice of the child report,” he said. “Those can be non-evaluative, which is supposed to just provide the child’s views and preferences, or an evaluative report, which is supposed to help the court make decisions by providing recommendations.”

Hearsay statements are also possible, Mazurek said, and they can come from a parent about what they’ve heard the child say or other adults who are closely involved in a child’s life, like a sports coach. But he noted having a child take the stand in a court proceeding or writing an affidavit is the “least favourite” view in Alberta.

“The best-interest welfare principle that was used before is a good one but left alone they often only focus on what adults think the best interests of a child are,” he said. “What children’s participation can do is help balance that and help make sure that even though we’re always focused on their welfare, the children’s voices have a role — and that can be very productive for people.”

But the report does not have specific recommendations for change, as it is the first step in a multipronged approach.

The next step is to ask whether we need to be amending the law to better promote children’s participation in family disputes, said Mazurek — and one of the things that ALRI is doing is to look at alternative dispute resolution processes like mediation and arbitration.

“One of the things we’ve heard currently from mediators is that the current law on children’s participation requires parental consent, and we’re gauging whether that should change,” he said. “And we’re talking to a whole gamut of different professionals that are involved in this, trying to figure out if we need to recommend law reform, and if so, how to recommend law reform.”

More information about the Alberta Law Reform Institute can be found here.

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