Legislation Introduced to Enforce Child Support Across Jurisdictions

Released on November 4, 2025

Today, Saskatchewan introduced legislation to improve the enforcement of child support orders across national and international jurisdictions, ensuring Saskatchewan children are safe, secure and supported.

The Inter-Jurisdictional Support Orders Amendment Act, 2025 (Bilingual) implements the Hague Maintenance Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (the Convention), which contains clear rules and establishes a system of cooperation between participating countries to create, recognize, change and enforce child support orders and agreements.

"When separated families have connections across different countries it can quickly become unclear what processes should be followed to resolve family law issues," Justice Minister and Attorney General Tim McLeod, K.C., said. "This legislation will provide additional tools to create and enforce child support orders across provincial and national boundaries, ensuring that children are provided with the support they need to succeed in life." 

The implementation of the Convention will provide Saskatchewan families with an additional mechanism to assist in the enforcement of child support orders where one of the parties lives outside of Saskatchewan. The Convention supports the enforcement in Saskatchewan of child support orders made in other countries, as well as the enforcement of Saskatchewan child support orders in other countries.

The Convention was established in 2013, and to date 56 individual countries have signed and implemented the Convention, including a variety of European nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the United States. Canada ratified the Convention in October of 2023. Individual provinces can implement it in their own provincial legislation and family law systems, which Manitoba, Ontario, and British Columbia have recently done.

Saskatchewan supports Canada's participation in the Hague Conference, which is an international body that promotes cooperation in areas like family law and civil procedures. In 2024 Saskatchewan and all other Canadian jurisdictions implemented the Hague Apostille Convention to simplify authentication requirements and develop consistent standards for public documents being used abroad, such as birth certificates.

For more information about Saskatchewan's ongoing participation in the Hague Conference, visit:

https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/news-and-media/2024/april/24/authentication-services-office-open-to-the-public.

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