==Child protection issues==
Child protection issues are handled comes under different legislation from than family law matters. The BC's child protection laws in BC are contained in the provincial ''[http://canlii.ca/t/84dv Child, Family and Community Service Act]'' (''CFCSA'') and its regulations, as well as . Child protection matters are heard in BC Provincial Court under the ''Provincial Court (Child, Family and Community Service Act) Rules'', and child protection matters are dealt with in the BC Provincial Court, not the BC Supreme Court.
Child protection involves a government authority stepping in. Unlike normal family law matters proceedings where two former spouses make decisions about decide how to proceed with family law their case, it's the provincial [https://www.gov.bc.ca/mcf/ Ministry of Children and Family Development] (MCFD) or an ''Indigenous authority '' under the ''CFCSA'' that is taking takes steps in a child protection matter to protect children from abuse, neglect, and harm or threat of harmproceeding. Once they step in, these authorities investigate a child protection concern, they have a legal duty to make decisions, including possibly seeking court orders, that ensure the safety and well-being of the children. In ''[https://canlii.ca/t/h5p6m J.P. v. British Columbia (Children and Family Development)]'', 2017 BCCA 308, the BC Court of Appeal made it clear that the MCFD can seek Provincial Court child protection orders in even if a child protection case despite existing family orders, including from the Supreme Court order, because the already exist. The MCFD has to meet make its legal obligations and duties decisions "regardless of the nature of the dispute between the parents in the family proceeding". This means that even if a family law order greatly restricts one parent's parenting time contact with a child, if the MCFD gets becomes involved and decides that that parent should have broad access rights, the MCFD can seek that order in Provincial Court and this that order will then have priority. The ''CFCSA'', and not the ''Family Law Act'' or the ''Divorce Act'', directs how child protection matters are handled. As a side note, the ''CFCSA'' still uses the terms ''custody'' and ''access'' even though family law legislation has the ''Family Law Act'' and the ''Divorce Act'' have moved to the terms ''guardianship, parenting time, and contact with children''.
Section 2 of the ''CFCSA'' sets out the guiding principles for child protection matters: