Digital Commons Network^™

Issues Of Cost & Access In Canada’S Health Care System: Lessons For The Civil Justice System, Sabreena Delhon, Sana Affara, Lesley Jacobs, Tina Motavalli

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

There are numerous examples of rethinking costs in the Canadian health care system. Three of these provide us with a sense of why there might be useful lessons for the civil justice system.

Report Of The Access To Legal Services Working Group, Action Committee On Access To Justice In Civil And Family Matters

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

This report provides an overview of the conclusions and recommendations of the Access to Legal Services Working Group (ALSWG). For the purposes of this report, the ALSWG defined legal services as: “services to assist people to deal with their legal problems”.

Report Of The Court Processes Simplification Working Group, Action Committee On Access To Justice In Civil And Family Matters

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The public court process is of vital importance to Canada. It plays a central role in how citizens govern themselves and regulate their rights and relationships in modern democracies. For the system to be effective, it must operate in a way that is just, efficient and proportionate to the needs and resources of the citizens it is designed to serve. Further, the system must be accessible.

Family Justice Reform: A Review Of Reports And Initiatives, Action Committee On Access To Justice In Civil And Family Matters

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The paper was prepared for the Family Justice Working Group of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters to help guide its discussions on initiatives and innovations likely to have the greatest impact on access to justice. The paper reviews a host of papers and studies written over the last fifteen years on the state of the family justice system.

Addressing The Needs Of Self-Represented Litigants In The Canadian Justice System, Trevor C. W. Farrow, Diana Lowe, Bradley Albrecht, Heather Manweiller, Martha E. Simmons

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

How can the Canadian justice system better assist self-represented litigants (SRLs) with their legal needs? There is a service gap that exists in the Canadian justice system between what SRLs need and what is currently being provided. The system needs to better address how SRLs understand, avoid, manage and resolve their legal issues. While the entire justice system has a role to play in understanding and addressing this question, courts and court administrators in particular have a central role to play. Some important efforts have begun to address the needs of SRLs. However, major challenges persist in providing adequate court …

Continuum: Volume 36 (Winter 2012), Osgoode Hall Law School Of York University

Continuum: Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Justice: Weighing The Costs Of Fair And Effective Resolution To Legal Problems, Canadian Forum On Civil Justice

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

There is a growing belief that our civil and family justice system2 is in crisis. Evidence is mounting that the public cannot afford to resolve their legal problems through the formal processes of our courts, and it is unclear whether they are accessing other civil justice system services to reach resolution or whether their legal problems remain unresolved. This is a vital concern not only for the individuals who are unable to pursue their claims, but also for the health, economic, and social well-being of all Canadians. There is increasing evidence that unresolved disputes have a significant negative impact on …

Looking Backward, Looking Forward: The Supreme Court Of Canada’S Decision In R. V. Ipeelee, Jonathan Rudin

The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in March 2012 in R. v. Ipeelee confirmed that the Court remained committed to the principles it set out in the 1999 decision of R. v. Gladue with respect to addressing the causes of Aboriginal over-representation in prison through the sentencing process. The Court made it clear that the Gladue analysis must be carried out in every case regarding an Aboriginal offender regardless of severity and that it is not necessary for there to be a nexus between the circumstances of the particular offender and the offence itself. The Court also stated that: The …

Supreme Court Of Canada Equality Jurisprudence And “Everyday Life”, Patricia Hughes

The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference

The author asks whether the Supreme Court’s equality jurisprudence poses a model or standard for the equality efforts undertaken by organizations, or whether the standard is too low or complex. The Supreme Court’s rhetoric around equality has contributed to the broader equality conversation over the past 30 years and in some specific cases has had a definite impact. This is not the same, however, as the Court’s serving as a “leader” in advancing equality in the private or public sectors. The jurisprudence has been erratic and recent efforts to simplify it have not helped. The author concludes that only a …

Addressing The Needs Of Self-Represented Litigants In The Canadian Justice System, Trevor C. W. Farrow, Diana Lowe, Martha E. Simmons, Bradley Albrecht, Heather Manweiller

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

How can the Canadian justice system better assist self-represented litigants (SRLs) with their legal needs?

There is a service gap that exists in the Canadian justice system between what SRLs need and what is currently being provided. The system needs to better address how SRLs understand, avoid, manage and resolve their legal issues.

While the entire justice system has a role to play in understanding and addressing this question, courts and court administrators in particular have a central role to play. Some important efforts have begun to address the needs of SRLs. However, major challenges persist in providing adequate court …

Ontario’S Administrative Tribunal Clusters: A Glass Half-Full Or Half-Empty For Administrative Justice?, Lorne Sossin, Jamie Baxter

All Papers

Claimants who come to administrative tribunals in Canada, as elsewhere, expecting a convenient forum to resolve their problems may discover that institutional resources and expertise, their own knowledge of the system, and their statutory entitlements and legal rights are fragmented between agencies with diverse norms and mandates. The provincial government of Ontario in Canada has recently enacted a novel strategy called tribunal clustering to confront these challenges. This paper explores the structure and rationales behind Ontario’s new tribunal clusters and compares these with reform models in Australia and the United Kingdom. The authors argue that tribunal clusters offer a flexible …

Osgoode Syllabus Of Courses And Seminars: 2012 - 2013, Office Of Student Services

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

The Good, The Right, And The Lawyer, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice? The View From The Street, Mary Stratton

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

Once homeless, our odds for accessing any kind of justice are low. Whether we are chronically or just periodically homeless, we will be familiar with social injustice. The likelihood is high that we also have unresolved legal problems spanning multiple areas of law. Seventeen participants in the Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP) reported being currently homeless. Their experiences, joined with reports from legal and social service providers across Alberta, are the focus of this article.

Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project: An Overview Of Findings From The Eleven Judicial Districts, Mary Stratton

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP) was a large-scale, collaborative research initiative designed to increase understanding of the legal needs of Albertans, the extent to which these needs are currently being met, and how access to legal services can be improved. It was the most comprehensive „mapping‟ research1 so far undertaken in Canada and collected an unprecedented breadth and depth of information about legal programs and services in Alberta, the demands on those services and identified legal needs that are not yet being met. The data also captured local social contexts and identified current strengths as well as gaps …

Working With Kf Modified: Changes And Enhancements, F. Tim Knight, Humayun Rashid, Darren J. Furey

Librarian Publications & Presentations

Provides an overview of the KF Modified classification scheme, introduces some recent editorial changes and enhancements, and includes some interactive cataloguing exercises.

Police Independence And The Military Police, Kent Roach

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines police independence in the context of the military police. The author concludes that the independence of the military police to investigate both Criminal Code and Code of Service Discipline offences should be recognized as part of the unwritten constitutional principle associated with the rule of law and as a principle of fundamental justice under section 7 of the Charter. The author examines the increased recognition of the importance of police investigative independence since the Somalia Inquiry, including the recent expansion of the command authority of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal over all military police. The relation between …

The Role Of Counsel In Canada's Refugee Determinations System: An Empirical Assessment, Sean Rehaag

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the role of counsel in Canada's refugee determination process through an investigation of over 70,000 refugee decisions from 2005 to 2009. The article demonstrates that counsel is a key factor driving successful outcomes. The article also shows that legal aid programs are increasingly restrictive in funding legal representation for refugee claimants. The author argues that these restrictions put the lives of refugees at risk. The article also demonstrates that claimants represented by immigration consultants are less likely to succeed than claimants represented by lawyers. This, combined with evidence that the immigration consulting industry has not established adequate …

The Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project: Report For The Peace River Judicial District, Glynnis Lieb

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Peace River Judicial District is the final of eleven Alberta Judicial Districts to be mapped as part of the Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP). The ALSMP is a large-scale, multi-year endeavour, designed to gain an understanding of the legal needs of Albertans and of the legal services available in Alberta.

Privacy Rights Mobilization Among Marginal Groups In Canada: Fulfilling The Mandate Of Pipeda, Lesley Jacobs, Barbara Crow, Kim Sawchuk

York Centre for Public Policy & Law

No abstract provided.

New Approaches To Enforcement And Compliance With Labour Regulatory Standards: The Case Of Ontario, Canada, Leah F. Vosko, Eric Tucker, Mary Gellatly, Mark P. Thomas

Comparative Research in Law & Political Economy

This report maps current enforcement and compliance measures and practices in Ontario’s regulation of employment, particularly as they relate to precarious employment. It evaluates the effectiveness of Ontario’s enforcement regimes, focusing on Employment Standards (ES) and Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) legislation, and sets these regimes in the context of those operating in jurisdictions across and outside Canada. Through this process, it identifies and evaluates potential reforms to improve regulatory effectiveness, particularly for workers in precarious jobs. The central argument is that there are fundamental deficiencies in both of these enforcement regimes: each, albeit in different ways, is out of …

2011-2016 Strategic Plan: Experience Osgoode, Lorne Sossin

Strategic Plans

This strategic plan calls for (1) increased emphasis on experiential education and the exploration of law in action; (2) intensification of research that shapes the public debate; and (3) greater community engagement.

Continuum: Volume 35 (Winter 2011), Osgoode Hall Law School Of York University

Continuum: Osgoode Hall Law School Alumni Magazine

No abstract provided.

Contributions And Limitations Of Empirical Research On Independence And Impartiality In International Investment Arbitration, Gus Van Harten

Articles & Book Chapters

The use of investment treaty arbitration to decide public law raises concerns about judicial independence and impartiality. These concerns arise from the absence of institutional safeguards of independence that are otherwise present in public law adjudication at the domestic or international level. In this article, opportunities to use empirical methods to study possible bias in investment arbitration are surveyed. The discussion includes a brief consideration of qualitative methods and a critique of two quantitative studies on outcomes in investment arbitration. The discussion then turns to the methodology of an ongoing project involving legal content analysis of decisions by investment treaty …

Osgoode Syllabus Of Courses And Seminars: 2011 - 2012, Office Of Student Services

Syllabi

No abstract provided.

The Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project: Report For The Grande Prairie Judicial District, Glynnis Lieb

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Grande Prairie Judicial District is the tenth of eleven Alberta Judicial Districts to be mapped as part of the Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP). The ALSMP is a large-scale, multi-year endeavour, designed to gain an understanding of the legal needs of Albertans and of the legal services available in Alberta.

Public Legal Education And Information- The Challenging Mission To Create What The Public Needs, Mary Stratton

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

Providing people with easy access to well designed and effective forms of information and education about legal rights and processes is essential to ensuring access to justice.

Some Facts And Figures From The Civil Justice System And The Public, Mary Stratton, James Cresswell, Scot Sehested

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Civil Justice System and the Public (CJSP) was a collaborative research program founded on the belief that a lack of effective communication, both within the system and between the system and the public, is a significant barrier interfering with access to justice. The research involved both the public and the justice community in identifying changes in communication practice that will improve the system. The project goal was to make specific and clear recommendations for effective change that will ultimately improve access to the civil justice system by increasing the ability of the system to hear, involve, and respond to …

The Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project: Report For The Drumheller Judicial District, Glynnis Lieb

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Drumheller Judicial District is the ninth of eleven Alberta Judicial Districts to be mapped as part of the Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP). The ALSMP is a large-scale, multi-year endeavour, designed to gain an understanding of the legal needs of Albertans and of the legal services available in Alberta.

The Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project: Report For The Wetaskiwin Judicial District, Glynnis Lieb

Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

The Wetaskiwin Judicial District is the eighth of eleven Alberta Judicial Districts to be mapped as part of the Alberta Legal Services Mapping Project (ALSMP). The ALSMP is a large-scale, multi-year endeavour, designed to gain an understanding of the legal needs of Albertans and of the legal services available in Alberta.