TORONTO -- Ontario families divided by divorce and bitter custody battles will face new rules in family court under proposed reforms unveiled Monday by the provincial government.

The changes, which include treating a violation of a restraining order as a criminal offence, were introduced in the legislature by Attorney General Chris Bentley after years of calls to improve the system.

The legislation would ensure that courts know if a potential caregiver has a violent history when making decisions about transferring custody of a child to anyone who is not their parent.

It also lays down clear rules regarding the division of pensions and child support after the breakup of a marriage.

The changes were prompted in part by the death of seven-year-old Katelynn Sampson, whose battered body was discovered in August by Toronto police.

Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to examine how the courts handle child custody cases amid public outrage over the extent of the girl's injuries.

An Ontario judge had granted Donna Irving and Warren Johnson custody of Katelynn with the blessing of her mother, who was battling drug addiction.

But court transcripts revealed that few questions were asked about Irving, who had a criminal record for drugs, prostitution and violence.

Both Irving and Johnson have been charged with first-degree murder.

"I suspect that I am one of many who say whenever a child dies, `Of course it's personal,"' Bentley said Monday.

"We all stand back and say, `What more can we do? Is there something we can do to prevent tragedies in the future?' Of course it's personal. It has to be."

Under the new rules, anyone who applies for custody of a child would have to complete a sworn statement that would include a proposal for how they would care for the child.

Non-parents would have to submit a police records check and tell the court about any Children's Aid Society records. Judges would also have access to information about any other family law case the non-parent was involved in.

The measures may help relieve some of the pressure in the province's clogged family court system by providing more information to judges, said family lawyer Steve Benmor of the Ontario Bar Association.

"You've got judges who are swamped," he said. "They've got 30, 40, 50 cases on their docket, half of which are with people who don't have lawyers. They simply show up, some of which don't even speak English."

But the "half-measures" proposed by Bentley don't go far enough, said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.

An application for custody should automatically trigger an assessment of the home where the child would live and recommendations that could be passed on to the court, he said.

The Liberals' efforts to beef up restraining orders -- a move Bentley said would allow for tougher enforcement and stricter bail conditions -- are equally flawed, Kormos added.

What the province needs to do is provide more temporary shelter spaces for abused women and their children as well as address the poverty that forces many spouses to return to violent homes, he said.

"We know that restraining orders are only as effective as the willingness of the party to abide by them," Kormos said.

"How many more women have to be murdered by partners who are subject to restraining orders because it's too late for the police to get involved after the fact?"

Currently, people who have convinced a court to issue a restraining order to prevent their partner from contacting them have to go back to court to get it enforced.

Under the proposed changes, violations of a restraining order would be prosecuted under the Criminal Code. Couples who have lived together for less than three years would also be able to apply for restraining orders.

Progressive Conservative Julia Munro hailed the changes as "really good first steps," while the NDP want to make amendments to the bill in committee.

If any of the changes are to become "real and whole," the government will also have to provide more funding to groups that help victims of family violence, said Zahra Dhanani, legal director of the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children in Toronto.

"It has been a long time coming, but we still have a long way to go," she said.

The changes include:

  • Requiring parents to provide "financial disclosure" annually to calculate child support, which would include copies of tax returns and statements of earnings.
  • Clarifying how and when pensions are divided when marriages break down. The new rule would allow for the calculation of a pension's value at a single point in time, and the court would then decide the division of those assets.
  • Allowing a parent who is left off a birth certificate to apply to have their surname added to their child's.
  • Excluding debts that are related to buying or significantly improving a matrimonial home from the calculation of the value of property owned by a spouse on the date of marriage.