page 9
ATJ working groups release final reports
JESSE COHEN
Contributor
Eight years ago, our Chief Justice, the
Right Honourable Beverly McLachlin, called on
Canadians to improve access to justice in Canada,
or continue the slow but unacceptable march
towards legal inequality – for as she has so rightly
repeated in her ensuing campaign,
“there is no justice without access
to justice.”
Two years later, in 2008, Justice McLachlin made access to
justice a national priority, the
Action Committee on Access
to Justice in Civil and Family
Matters was formed under the
leadership of Justice Thomas A.
Cromwell. Composed of a crosssection of Canada’s foremost
leaders in civil and family justice
as well as public representatives,
the Action Committee was tasked
with developing consensus priorities for national and local reform.
Over time, four distinct themes,
which became four working
groups, emerged in the Committee: court process simplification;
legal services; prevention, triage,
and referral; and family justice.
This past year, the Action
Committee and each of the working groups released their final
reports. Drawing these reports
together, the Action Committee released its final
report “A Roadmap for Change” in October. The
final rep ܝY[