CLUBS CORNER
Tuesday, February 2, 2016 3
Canadian Civil Needs Surveys:
A Brief Comparison
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canadian forum for civil justice
this article was writ ten by mat thew dyl ag
b.a.
( hons .),
ll . b ., ll . m .
( candidate 2016 )
Today, it is generally accepted that in order
to effectively i mprove access to justice, one
first has to properly understand the legal needs
of the ordinary person. Modern access to justice
literature takes as its premise that the focus of
reform must be on the problems experienced by
the public, not just those that are adjudicated
by the formal court system. Perhaps the most
effective way to understand the problems faced
by the public is to directly ask them about their
legal experiences through broad surveys.
Throughout the 2000s various jurisdictions
in Canada have conducted their own legal needs
surveys. For Ontario, three major surveys are of
note. The first survey of interest was conducted
by Ab C u rrie i n 2006 for the Depa r tment of
Justice Canada and presented in a report entitled “The Legal Problems of Everyday Life: The
Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable
Problems Experienced by Canadians.” A second
i mportant su r vey was conducted i n 2009 for
t he Ont a r io C iv i l L ega l Need s P roject t h at
resu lted i n two reports, the fi rst of wh ich is
entitled “Listening to Ontarians: Report of the
Ontario Civil Legal Needs Project,” released in
2010; the second entitled “The Geography of
Civil Legal Ser vices in Ontario” was released
a year later. A third comprehensive sur vey of
legal needs in Canada was completed in 2014
by the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ).
This survey interviewed over 3,000 Canadians
asking about the nature and frequency of legal
problems in their everyday lives. Of those surveyed, approximately 1,200 respondents reside
in Ontario. This survey data has yet to be fully
analyzed and will become a fundamental source
for new empirical findings on legal problems.
The fi rst obser vation of note is the natu re
of jud ici able i n st a nce s. T he D epa r t ment of
Justice survey noted that overall just under half
(49.4%) of Ontarians experienced one or more
justiciable problem over the three-year reference period. Similarly, the CFCJ survey found
that approximately half of all Canadians will
experience a justiciable problem within a three
yea r p er iod. T he Ont a r io C iv i l L ega l Need s
su r vey, however, fou nd a sm a l ler nu mb er.
Accord i ng to that su r vey on ly about th i r tyeight percent of Onta r ia ns had a civ i l lega l
need over t he t h ree-yea r reference p er io d.
Fu rther d i fferences between the su r veys a re
evident when exam i n i ng the natu re of justiciable problems. According to the Department
of Justice survey the three most common types
of i ncidences repor ted were related to consu mer problems (22.0% of a l l repor ted i n 6