Rarely used Manitoba law that compels children to financially support parents should be scrapped: commission

Aging parents in Manitoba may lose the ability to apply for financial aid from their children under provincial legislation that's been on the books for almost a century — but which hasn't changed the amount of aid available in that time.

The rarely used Parents' Maintenance Act, enacted in 1933, says that a child is liable to provide support for a dependent parent who can no longer financially support themselves, if the child has the means to do so.

However, the legislation caps the amount of support at $20 a week. A court order is needed before payments can begin.

On Tuesday, The Manitoba Law Reform Commission — the independent agency responsible for recommending changes to modernize and reform laws in Manitoba — issued a recommendation that the law be repealed.

Societal and economic changes in the last 90 years have made the support ineffectual, said Kristal Bayes-McDonald, the director and legal counsel for the commission, and the likelihood of an older adult going to court for an order where the maximum is $20 a week is highly unlikely. 

Since the act was introduced, it's "almost never" been used, she said.

The reform commission's report says there have been no reported decisions in Manitoba on applications made under The Parents' Maintenance Act, and recommends the legislation be repealed because it has "fundamental flaws [that] cannot be remedied by revisions."

Manitoba is the only province left in Canada with a standalone parents' maintenance statute, after Alberta and Saskatchewan repealed their maintenance acts, the report says. Other provinces and territories consolidated their maintenance laws and family law statutes. 

When the law was introduced, there were few supports for an aging population, says Norman Rosenbaum, a Winnipeg-based lawyer with Merchant Law Group.

But the economic landscape is different now than it was when the Depression-era law was introduced in Manitoba, he says.

"My mother talked about what it was like on relief in the 1930s. The government would file liens against people's houses," Rosenbaum said.

"That's no longer the practice, but that was a pretty hard system."

He also notes the $20 weekly maximum support available under the act would make the expensive process of obtaining a court order unfeasible — and says going to court would suggest a deeper issue within the family.

"A legal obligation doesn't make for family harmony, so there are other issues that could arise emotionally in terms of the relationship between the parent and child. So the question is, 'Is it worth it?'" he said.

"One would hope that the adult child would do right by the parent. If there is a requirement for a court order, it indicates some difficulty."

The Manitoba Law Reform Commission will provide its report to the minister of justice, who will decide if the government will act on its recommendation.