What does access to justice look like when legal help is distant, difficult to navigate, or disconnected from the communities it is meant to serve?
Many of the sessions at the Advancing People-Centred Justice in Canada conference explored approaches that bring legal information, services, and support directly to people. The following resources highlight mobile legal services, community-based navigation, medical-legal partnerships, and responses to the connections between housing, safety, and justice.
Bringing Legal Help to Rural Communities
In this 2023 CFCJ paper, Ab Currie reflects on lessons from the Rural Mobile Law Van project at the midpoint of its three-year pilot. The paper considers how proactive outreach can help identify unmet legal needs and connect people in rural communities with support, while noting that its observations are lessons from the project rather than findings from a structured evaluation of people-centred justice.
Juristes mobiles is a three-year Quebec research-action project testing ways to provide free, first-line legal services directly within communities that face barriers to traditional legal services. The project works with local organizations to identify community needs, test mobile and community-based approaches, and adjust services based on what is learned in the field.
Vers une justice de proximité au Québec : Projet Juristes mobiles
This first research report from the Juristes mobiles project examines barriers to law and justice experienced by underserved communities in Quebec. It describes the project’s approach to designing, testing, and evaluating community-based legal services in partnership with Info Justice and the Institut québécois de réforme du droit et de la justice.
Connecting Housing, Safety, and Justice
The Journey to Housing Stability for Survivors of Gender-Based Violence
This multi-year report from the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario examines the experiences of survivors of gender-based violence navigating Ontario’s housing and legal systems. It identifies barriers to safe and stable housing and calls for specialized legal services and policy responses informed by survivors’ experiences.
Community-Based Navigation and Support
Ottawa Black Justice Navigators Program
Jaku Konbit’s program provides culturally responsive information, navigation, advocacy, and referrals for Black individuals and families interacting with the justice system. Justice navigators help people understand court and correctional processes, their rights and options, and available legal and community supports.
Justice Pro Bono (également disponible en français)
Justice Pro Bono connects people and community organizations in Quebec with volunteer legal services. Its community-based programs include medical-legal partnerships, legal clinics in Nunavik, psychosocial legal clinics, support for migrants with precarious status, and referrals to free or low-cost legal resources.
Watch the Conference Sessions
The related conference sessions are also available online:
- You Have to Find Them First: Meeting Legal Needs of People in Remote Locations
- Innovating for Impact: New Models of People-Centred Justice
- Co-Designing Justice: Participation as a Design Method
This is the fourth in AJRN’s September series sharing resources connected to the 2026 Advancing People-Centred Justice in Canada conference.
See you later this week for the final post in the series!
ajrn.org 