Table 3
Divorce and other family breakdown court cases, by time since initiation, selected provinces and territories, 2009/2010

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Table 3
Divorce and other family breakdown court cases, by time since initiation, selected provinces and territories, 2009/2010
Province or territory1 Time since initiation Total active cases2
1 year or less greater than 1 year to 2 years greater than 2 years to 3 years greater than 3 years to 4 years greater than 4 years Unknown
number
Nova Scotia 3,241 1,934 819 531 1,788 3 8,316
Ontario 57,072 33,646 8,990 3,763 4,351 0 107,822
Alberta 27,441 11,814 4,218 2,383 8,492 222 54,570
British Columbia 19,642 10,628 5,068 3,764 11,065 55 50,222
Yukon 146 61 30 17 91 0 345
Northwest Territories 182 73 27 24 6 0 312
Nunavut 128 34 22 6 38 0 228
Total 107,852 58,190 19,174 10,488 25,831 280 221,815
  percent
Nova Scotia 39 23 10 6 22 ... 100
Ontario 53 31 8 3 4 ... 100
Alberta 50 22 8 4 16 ... 100
British Columbia 39 21 10 8 22 ... 100
Yukon 42 18 9 5 26 ... 100
Northwest Territories 58 23 9 8 2 ... 100
Nunavut 56 15 10 3 17 ... 100
Total 49 26 9 5 12 ... 100
... not applicable
1. Excludes data from Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan due to the unavailability of data.
2. Refers to court cases that had activity or were initiated during the year.
Note: "Other family breakdown" refers to cases that addressed issues of custody, access, support or division of property outside of a divorce proceeding such as cases of separation or those deciding arrangements for a child born outside a union.
It is important to note that differences in how cases are processed in the provinces and territories may impact results related to "time since initiation" and comparisons between jurisdictions should be made with caution. For example, depending on jurisdictional practices, a variation of an existing order or further disputes related to the same family may either be captured under the original case file (which may distribute cases toward a longer "time since initiation") or as a new case.
Source: Statistics Canada, Civil Court Survey.
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