Month September 2024

Updated Canadian Indicator Framework for UN SDGs Includes Civil Court Case Completion Time

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Statistics Canada has released information about the updated Canadian Indicator Framework (CIF) for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The UN SDGs represent a global effort to advance economic and social development across 17 goals. The CIF for the UN SDGs was created to address and better assess Canada’s progress towards national SDG priorities. Every indicator in the CIF includes the most recent data available. Canada carries out a review of the CIF every three years. This year’s review resulted in several changes in the framework, including the addition of 20 indicators deemed important to address measurement gaps.

Notable for the justice community, an indicator on civil court case completion time (the time elapsed from the initiation of a civil court case to its first disposition) was added under Goal 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).

A Statisics Canada news release indicates the following:

“In 2022/2023, 46.7% of total civil cases were completed within three months, up from 46.1% in 2021/2022.

Family cases, such as divorce, child custody, property division and adoption, have maintained a higher proportion of swift resolutions compared with general civil cases, which may involve disputes, such as contracts, bankruptcy and other claims involving money.

In 2022/2023, 57.7% of family cases were resolved within three months in 2022/2023, compared with just under 40% of general civil cases being resolved within the same period.”

Information and data for Indicator 16.4.4: Civil court case completion time is available here: https://sdgcif-data-canada-oddcic-donnee.github.io/16-4-1/.

Information for this post was gleaned from a Statistics Canada news release. To read the release, visit: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/7064-peek-updated-canadian-indicator-framework.

Nova Scotia Legal Aid Opens First-of-its-kind in Atlantic Canada Legal Aid Office in Sipekne’katik First Nation

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On September 19 2024, Nova Scotia Legal Aid (NSLA) and Sipekne’katik First Nation held a grand opening ceremony for a first of its kind in Atlantic Canada legal aid office. This office represents “a new model for providing direct legal services to First Nations communities”. The collaboration between NSLA and Sipekne’katik First Nation is an important step forward in improving access to justice in Sipekne’katik First Nation.

Chief Michelle Glasgow of Sipekne’katik First Nation said of the new legal aid office: “[this] is a significant step towards addressing the unique legal needs of our community members and ensuring we have equal access to justice. Having legal aid services available right here in Sipekne’katik supports our goals of improving the well-being of our people and preserving our Mi’kmaw culture and traditions.”

The Nova Scotia Legal Aid Sipekne’katik Office is located at 529-1 Church Street, Indian Brook. The office will officially open in October 2024: https://www.sipeknekatik.ca/community-notices/nova-scotia-legal-aid-opens-office-in-sipeknekatik-first-nation.

New Report on Nova Scotia Jails Highlights Concerns Around Access to Healthcare and Indigenous Spiritual Supports

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The third annual report on the Conditions of Confinement in Nova Scotia Provincial Jails outlines concerns around the protection of the health and safety of provincially incarcerated people. The concerns are similar to concerns raised in previous years. Specifically, the report identifies disruptions to “essential medications upon incarceration and failure to meet the standards of care in place in other provincial correctional health systems on providing supports…to persons with substance use problems”.

The report also identifies concerns around access to Indigenous spiritual supports, including but not limited to lack of daily access to smudging.

Importantly, in Nova Scotia, more than 70% of the provincially incarcerated population are in jail pre-trial and have not yet been found guilty or innocent. Many face issues of social exclusion and discrimination.

The East Coast Prison Justice Society Visiting Committee 2022-2023 Annual Report is published online here: https://www.eastcoastprisonjustice.ca/uploads/1/3/8/1/138152103/ecpjs_vc_annual_report_2022-23__final_.pdf.

Details included in this post were gleaned from a September 17, 2024 press release entitled, East Coast Prison Justice Society Visiting Committee Report on Conditions of Confinement in NS Provincial Jails.

BC Ombudsperson’s Report Underscores How Enquiries and Complaints about Public Services Can Help Improve Public Administration across BC’s Public Sector

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“With each enquiry and complaint, it’s our job to determine whether the public authority has acted fairly. And when we find that a public body has acted unfairly, we identify steps it can take to remedy the unfairness found”, says BC Ombudsperson, Jay Chalke.

The newly released BC Ombudsperson’s Annual Report draws attention to the almost 7,000 enquiries and complaints raised about public bodies in the province during the April 2023 and March 2024 reporting period, and benefits to the public resulting from these enquiries and complaints. Specific examples cited in the press release include:

  • A complaint about the administration of BC’s Affordable Child Care Benefit which led to the Ministry of Education and Child Care agreeing to pay more than $800,000 to over 3,000 families to remedy past underpayments
  • A complaint regarding the government’s cost-of-living credit from BC Hydro not being paid to customers which resulted in BC Hydro committing to provide the credit to other hydro customers who had also been affected by missing credits

The BC Ombudsman 2023-24 Annual Report is available online here: ihttps://bcombudsperson.ca/assets/media/OMB_AR_2023-2024_WEB.pdf

Details included in this post were gleaned from a September 19, 2024 press release.

Call for Proposals Launched for 2025 People-Centred Justice Workshop

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The 3rd annual People-Centred Justice Workshop will take place from May 30-31, 2025 in Vancouver, BC, on the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Organized by the BC Access to Justice Centre for Excellence at the University of Victoria, in collaboration with University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law and Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law, and building on the success of the 2023 and 2024 PCJ workshops, this event aims to provide a venue to discuss Canadian A2J initiatives. The theme for the 2025 Workshop is “Innovation in People-Centred Justice.” The workshop will be conducted in a hybrid format, with AI-assisted translation services available for participants joining remotely or in person.

The organizing committee welcomes proposals on research, projects, or papers addressing any form of innovation in this field, whether through technology, procedural reform, or alternative approaches to people-centred justice. If you would like to participate, please submit your information and a brief proposal outline in this form by October 7, 2024. No abstract or complete work is required now, and subsequent deadlines will be communicated with participants. Participants will not be strictly held to the outline they provide. The October 7 deadline will allow organizers to better plan the workshop program and apply for funding to support the event.

The 2025 People-Centred Justice Workshop will immediately follow the 2025 Conference of the Federation of Law Reform Agencies of Canada (FOLRAC), which will also be held in Vancouver. Some participants may wish to attend both events.

U.S. Institute Publishes Report on Regulatory Reforms to Address Legal Services Gaps

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A new report by the the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) presents recommendations for the use of legal regulation innovation as a way to address the urgent legal services gap across much of America. The report outlines a series of objectives and findings from discussions with leaders from states considering or implementing regulatory innovation.

The report presents 12 recommendations reflecting stakeholder contributions, program and structure requirements, messaging, and research & data. The following are some of the recommendations included in the report:

  • Include ethics attorneys who are open to considering regulatory innovation in regulatory initiatives
  • Include at least one, but ideally as many as possible, representatives from the state’s supreme court on any regulatory innovation task force
  • Engage community-based organizations and the public from the outset
  • Focus initial efforts on education about the problem and why change is needed
  • Regulators should collect more data
  • Regulators and other leaders should consider how changes to other rules of professional conduct could increase access to affordable legal help

Unlocking Legal Regulation: Lessons Learned and Recommendations for Launching and Sustaining Regulatory Reform by Jessica Bednarz is available online here: https://iaals.du.edu/sites/default/files/documents/publications/ulr_lessons_learned.pdf.