Introducing Canada’s Justice Development Goals

By Thomas Cromwell

January 2017

Canada’s justice system isn’t accessible to everyone. In some parts of the country, there are delays, in others there are gaps in services. In rural communities, people’s access is different than in cities. People can’t always get service in their first language, including French or English. Despite these challenges to accessible services, people still need help when they have difficulties at work, with their housing, with consumer and debt issues and when their families change. In fact, about half of Canadians will face a serious legal issue in any three-year period.¹ The institutions and individuals working in the justice system recognize the extent of this crisis and are working together to try to address these issues.

Canada’s Justice Development Goals give a shared benchmark to aim for and connect the wide range of access to justice projects. No single goal is the most important and no entity is responsible for all of the change that is needed. Instead, these goals outline a collective set of changes that need to be made. The way that these goals are tackled will depend on your geography, your role, your experiences and your resources. There is room for, and a need for, new ideas and new research and new energy on each of these.

Each year the Action Committee will update our collective progress on the Justice Development Goals, providing links to local and regional activity. Together we will make the complex changes that are needed to make the justice system work better for people in Canada. Visit the Justice Development Goals here to stay up-to-date and to spread the word about these goals.

[1] Ab Currie, The Legal Problems of Everyday Life: The Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable Problems Experienced by Canadians (Ottawa: Department of Justice Canada, 2007) at 10.

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Learning about the State of Access to Justice in Canada