Glossary

In Family Law

A financial statement is a court form that has details about your income, expenses, assets, and debts. Usually, you and your partner each need to fill out a financial statement form if either of you are asking for a court order for one or all of the following:

• child support
• spousal support
• property division

In Employment and Work

First aid means treating yourself or having someone at work treat you. Some examples are:

• cleaning minor cuts, scrapes, or scratches
• treating a minor burn
• applying bandages, a cold compress, or an ice bag
• putting on a splint at your workplace

First aid also includes changing a bandage at a follow-up appointment if this does not lead to further treatment.

In Housing Law

A fixed-term tenancy is an agreement to rent a place for at least a certain length of time. The agreement is often called a lease, and the length of time is called the term. The most common term is one year, but it can be shorter or longer. When the term is over, the tenancy automatically continues as a month-to-month tenancy unless the landlord and tenant agree to another fixed term, or one of them takes legal steps to end the tenancy.

In Criminal Law, Types of Offences, Bail, Probation, and Court Attendance, Assault, Driving, Drugs, Firearms, Gender-based violence, Harassment, Mischief, Theft, Threats, Victims and witnesses

Forcible confinement is holding someone in a place without their permission. The confinement can be done using physical force. It can also be done using threats or intimidation to get someone to stay. The confinement must last longer than a few minutes for it to be a criminal offence. Forcible confinement often happens in the context of family violence or domestic assault. Examples of forcible confinement include locking someone in a room, tying them up, or threatening to hurt the person if they leave.

In Immigration Law

A foreign national is anyone who is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. For example, a refugee claimant, a visitor, or a person in Canada without any immigration status is a foreign national.

In Debt and Consumer Rights

Fraud is when you lie, cheat, improperly use someone else’s personal information, or break the law to get money or a personal benefit. Committing fraud is a crime.

If you have debts that you owe because of fraud, you cannot get rid of them by filing for bankruptcy. For example, if you lie to a bank about your income to get a credit card and do not pay for what you bought with it, you still have to pay your credit card balance after your bankruptcy has been discharged.

In Abuse and Family Violence, Elder abuse, Debt and Consumer Rights

Frauds and scams are crimes where people lie, cheat, use someone else’s personal information, or break the law to get money or something for themselves.

Common examples are identity theft, credit card fraud, email and online fraud, and phone and door-to-door sales scams.

In Tribunals and Courts

A garnishee owes the debtor money, but is ordered by the court to pay it to that person’s creditor instead. For example, when wages are garnished, the garnishee is the employer that has to pay part of a person’s wages to the court. Another example of a garnishee is the bank that has an account belonging to the debtor.

In Debt and Consumer Rights, Employment and Work, Tribunals and Courts

Garnishment is one option for getting money from someone if they did not obey a court order to pay you. To do this, you have to fill out forms and follow the rules of the court that apply to this process.

You might be able to get money from:

• someone’s bank account
• payments they get, like rent cheques from a tenant
• their wages if they’re employed

There are some things that usually cannot be garnished, like:

• employment insurance
• social assistance
• pensions (unless the creditor is a government agency)

In Human Rights

Gender expression is how someone outwardly expresses and presents their gender. For example, people can do this through their name, pronouns, behaviour, and clothes.