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INTRODUCING THE COMMUNITY-BASED JUSTICE RESEARCH PROJECT
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We are thrilled to announce the launch of the Community-Based Justice Research project – a new, collaborative initiative to advance research and collective understanding on community-based justice services and their value as tools to help improve access to justice globally.
Incorporating key learnings from the CFCJ’s 7-year (2011-2018) national research project on the Cost of Justice in Canada, the Community-Based Justice Research project will explore unanswered questions around scope, quality, cost, and impact related to different community-oriented legal service delivery mechanisms, and help to respond to the lack of evidence to support increasing access to community-based justice programs. In doing so, this project will also respond to the United Nations’ global call-to-action to ensure equal access to justice for all – UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.3.
This project is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and is being led by Osgoode Hall Law School professor and Chair of the CFCJ Board, Trevor Farrow. This project has been planned in close collaboration with the IDRC, the Katiba Institute in Kenya, the Centre for Alternative Policy Research and Innovation (CAPRI) in Sierra Leone and the Centre for Community Justice and Development (CCJD) in South Africa with support from Open Society Foundations (OSF).
To learn more about the Community-Based Justice Research project, visit the project page: www.cfcj-fcjc.org/our-projects/community-based-justice-research-cbjr/.
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EVERYDAY LEGAL PROBLEMS AND THE COST OF JUSTICE IN CANADA - SURVEY DATA
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EVERYDAY LEGAL PROBLEMS AND THE COST OF JUSTICE IN CANADA - INCOME REPORT
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EVERYDAY LEGAL PROBLEMS AND THE COST OF JUSTICE IN CANADA - SPENDING ON EVERYDAY LEGAL PROBLEMS
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Almost 50% of people who experience an everyday legal problem spend some money trying to resolve their problem. Based on findings from the CFCJ’s national Cost of Justice study, average spending on legal problems is approximately $6,100. That is almost as much as Canadian households spend on food in a year. The newly published Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada – Spending on Everyday Legal Problems report offers additional insights on monetary spending on civil and family justice problems based on demographic characteristics recorded in the CFCJ’s Cost of Justice survey, as well as pathways used to try to resolve legal problems. This new Cost of Justice report is available on the CFCJ website here: www.cfcj-fcjc.org/wp-content/uploads/SPENDING-Everyday-Legal-Problems-and-the-Cost-of-Justice-in-Canada.pdf.
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LEGAL SECONDARY CONSULTATION IS A VALUABLE ADDITION TO THE SERVICES AVAILABLE FROM THREE COMMUNITY LEGAL CLINICS IN SOUTHWEST ONTARIO
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In his latest CFCJ A2J blog, Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Ab Currie discusses the recent Legal Secondary Consultation pilot project that was put in place with Halton Community Legal Services, the Community Legal Clinic of Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk and the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County. Over a 7-month period, legal professionals at these community legal clinics in Southwest Ontario offered advice, via e-mail and telephone, to various community health centres, mental health services, food banks, family counselling agencies, and other agencies requesting assistance. The objective was to help service providers to resolve problems for clients seeking help. To learn more about this community-based outreach initiative and its successful implementation and development, read Dr. Currie’s blog on the CFCJ website here: www.cfcj-fcjc.org/a2jblog/legal-secondary-consultation-is-a-valuable-addition-to-community-clinics/.
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UNBUNDLED LEGAL SERVICES AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE
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In a new blog published on our website, CFCJ research assistant and Osgoode Hall Law School student, Naomi Quesnel reflects on some of the ways that unbundled legal services can contribute to improving access to justice, as well as some of the concerns that legal service providers may have about offering unbundled legal services. Read Naomi’s blog on Unbundled Legal Services and Access to Justice here: www.cfcj-fcjc.org/a2jblog/unbundled-legal-services-and-access-to-justice/.
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The past few months have been busy and exciting ones for researchers and staff at the CFCJ. We are always keen to share our research and participate in forums that enable us to engage policy thinkers, justice stakeholders and the public to help advance access to justice. Check out some of our recent access to justice presentations, workshops and other news in our “Stories from the Road” below.
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STRENGTHENING ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND TRACKING PROGRESS WITH NATIONAL CIVIL JUSTICE POLICY AND MEASUREMENT FRAMEWORKS
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CFCJ Board Chair, Professor Trevor Farrow was among the participants in a recent workshop in New York on “National Civil Justice Policy and Measurement Frameworks”. The workshop brought together experts from Argentina, Indonesia, South Africa, Ukraine, UK, Canada, U.S., Australia and other countries for two days of discussion on national efforts to develop and advance meaningful access to civil justice indicators. The two-day meeting afforded the various civil society organizations that were represented an opportunity to share information, compare learnings and discuss ways that current indicators can be further developed. The meeting was organized and hosted by the Open Society Justice Initiative, in furtherance of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16.
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COMMUNITY-BASED JUSTICE RESEARCH PROJECT MEETING
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Representatives from the organizations involved in the multi-country Community-Based Justice Research project gathered for a 3-day inception workshop in Nairobi, Kenya in early September. This first project meeting with researchers from Canada, U.S., South Africa, Kenya and Sierra Leone involved discussions and expert presentations on a range of topics related to access to justice, cross-country research collaboration, and the respective in-country research initiatives. To learn more about the three-year, IDRC-funded Community-Based Justice Research project, visit the project page: http://cfcj-fcjc.org/our-projects/community-based-justice-research-cbjr/.
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OECD ROUNDTABLE ON EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE
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The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) recently participated in three days of meetings on access to justice and UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, convened by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This meeting, which was held in Riga, Latvia, was the fourth convened by the OECD since 2015 aimed at developing a policy on safeguarding individual rights and providing individuals with access to justice and social services. Trevor Farrow, Chair of the CFCJ Board and Ab Currie, CFCJ Senior Research Fellow were invited to present papers at the meeting.
The expert panel on July 4 focused on understanding the justice gap and making the case for investing in access to justice. It was sponsored jointly by the OECD, the Open Society Justice Initiative and Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. The OECD Policy Roundtable that was held on July 5 and 6 explored a range of topics, including: advancing the sustainable development goals, enabling access to justice through legal capability and empowerment, building the business case for access to justice, technology and people-centered justice services and access to justice for business. The afternoon of the second day also featured a discussion by high level officials from a number of European countries and the European Union, including the Secretary General of the OECD, about making the case for investing in access to justice for all.
In his presentation, Professor Farrow highlighted research on the Cost of Justice as it relates to the broader framework of UN Social Development Goal 16.3, and emphasized the relevance of this type of research in understanding ways to effectively increase access to justice. In a session on advancing Sustainable Development Goal 16, Dr. Currie presented the results of research on building legal aid delivery around outreach. Dr. Currie highlighted the success of recent community legal clinic projects in Ontario that worked to increase the number of people served by partnering with community organizations, all while building community capacity.
This roundtable is part of an ongoing and deepening effort by the OECD to engage with important issues on access to justice. The work of the OECD is focused on making a business case for access to justice as a central element in building just, peaceful, inclusive and prosperous societies. It represents an important part of a growing international collaboration on shared justice efforts as central features of sustainable development.
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ACCÈS AU DROIT ET À LA JUSTICE (ADAJ) ANNUAL MEETING
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The Accès au droit et à la justice [ADAJ] project held their annual meeting on June 15, 2018 in Montreal. This major research initiative, led by Professor Pierre Noreau from the Université de Montréal, includes more than 40 researchers (from 9 universities) and almost 50 justice stakeholders participating in more than 20 sub-projects. As a partner organization working on three sub-projects, the CFCJ, represented by Lisa Moore, was thrilled to be a part of the annual meeting. The ADAJ meeting provided an opportunity to connect with fellow researchers and justice stakeholders involved in the initiative, and to learn about some of the exciting ways that the ADAJ project continues to move the dial on access to justice research. Follow the progress of the ADAJ initiative on their website: http://adaj.ca/.
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INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND LEGAL SERVICES – UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON, FACULTY OF LAWS
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In a presentation at the International Conference on Access to Justice and Legal Services in June, 2018, CFCJ Board Chair, Professor Trevor Farrow, spoke about “Access to Justice as a Theory of Lawyering”. Building on insights from the CFCJ’s national Cost of Justice study, Professor Farrow spoke about connecting legal professionalism with everyday legal needs research and access to justice thinking to cultivate a new theory of lawyering.
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LAW AND SOCIETY ASSOCIATION MEETING – UNDERSTANDING THE COSTS OF CANADA’S ACCESS TO JUSTICE CRISIS
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We were once again thrilled to host a roundtable session at the annual Law and Society Association meeting. The topic of this year’s CFCJ roundtable was “Understanding the Costs of Canada’s Access to Justice Crisis”. Professor Catherine Piché, Professor Trevor Farrow, Professor Les Jacobs, Professor Noel Semple, Nicole Aylwin, Matthew Dylag and moderator, Professor Herbert Kritzer discussed some of the impacts of Canada’s access to justice problems in civil and family law contexts. The session explored questions around scope and complexity of the access to justice crisis, legal need and experiences of different groups, access to justice research, data gaps and measuring change, class actions as a tool to improve access to justice, the economic and social costs of justice and the price of an inaccessible justice system. The 2018 Law and Society Association meeting was held in Toronto.
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CONTRIBUTING THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE - MEETING THE LEGAL NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED PEOPLE IN MACEDONIA
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The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, represented by Dr. Ab Currie, participated in a two-day international conference on “Legal Empowerment: Legal Needs of Marginalized Communities in Macedonia” on May 7 and 8 in Skopje, Macedonia. Dr. Currie, Senior Research Fellow at the CFCJ was one of two participants from abroad; one other international expert from the UK attended the conference. Dr. Currie presented results and discussed lessons learned from research carried out with community legal clinics in Ontario. The conference was sponsored by the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is currently funding a number of legal aid projects focussed on highly marginalized groups. With legal aid in Macedonia about to experience a significant expansion, and the government introducing legislation to establish a system of free legal aid throughout the country, Macedonia offered a timely setting to discuss issues around legal empowerment and legal need.
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Our website has a new look! We have made a lot of changes to our website in recent weeks to improve its functionality and to make it more user-friendly.
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