Initially, there was overlap with the Community
Corrections Division because probation officers
continued to provide family justice services in
some tural areas of the province. Family Justice
Services Division and Community Corrections
Division also continued to share management
structures.

Due to geography, community size and
resource limitations, it was not possible to
establish full-time family justice counsellor”
specialists in every community. Instead, staff
were employed half-time as family justice

counsellors and half-time as probation officers.
By the end of 1999, family and probation
functions were separated by phasing out

positions that delivered both functions.
Training was also separated and online
prerequisite training for new recruits flourished.
For family justice counsellor positions, a person
needed 80 hours of dispute resolution training
and two prerequisite courses before applying to
the hiring process.

Although co-located offices still existed, Family
Justice Services was administratively separated
from the Community Corrections Division by
2000. The following year, the Family Justice
Services Division transferred to the newly
created Justice Services Branch in the Ministry
of Attorney General.

Corrections Branch Archives

Family Justice Services Division staff at the division’s provincial workshop (April 2001)

50 In 1997, the Ministry of Attorney General released the policy framework, “Strategic Reforms of British Columbia's
Justice System,’ which emphasized the specialized role of family court counsellors in providing dispute resolution
alternatives to court in family matters. This emphasis and the creation of the Family Justice Services Division led
to a new title for these employees and trained mediators—family justice counsellor.

264

Corrections in British Columbia