ABSTRACT
In many respects the provision of marriage conciliation facilities in Canada is similar to that in the United States, although it would seem that developments have been less intensive. In family courts, an increasing number of which have been set up in Canada, counselling is given by trained and salaried probation officers attached to the courts. This account will deal first with the operation of the family courts in different parts of Canada, and then go on to consider in detail the development of marriage conciliation work in Toronto, the second largest city in the country. In six provinces of Canada, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland, family courts have been set up, although in Quebec the court is called the social welfare court. In the other family courts in Canada, the judges are not given specific powers of mediation, and this work is left entirely to the probation officers, who are trained for it.
