Category British Columbia

B.C. Access-to-Justice Hackathon Returning for Third Year

ajrn1 Leave a comment

Justice Hack, an access-to-justice hackathon in British Columbia, will take place on Saturday, October 25th and Sunday October 26th. Technologists, lawyers, justice system stakeholders and other interested persons are invited to join this event to brainstorm about access to justice and law and collaborate with others to build legal tech solutions that can meet needs and have an impact. The theme of this year’s event is employment and workplace rights.

Participants can sign up solo, with another person, or with a team. For the event, participants will be asked to work in groups of 3-5 people. There is a cost to join the event and each ticket includes meals, snacks, and non-alcoholic beverages. For more information about the Justce Hack event or to purchase tickets, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-justice-hack-bcs-largest-access-to-justice-hackathon-tickets-1647417091869

British Columbia Law Institute Paper Looks at Indigenous-Led Conflict Resolution

ajrn1 Leave a comment

A recently published paper by the British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) explores dispute resolution within Indigenous communities. The paper looks at approaches to Indigenous-led conflict resolution, points of friction where Indigenous and state laws intersect, and interjurisdictional support of First Nations justice systems. Recognition and state support of First Nations legal orders are important for fostering trust and acknowledging the legitimacy of co-existing systems. The paper offers several ways to ground this recognition and support.

Navigating Shared Waters: Study Paper on Indigenous-Led Conflict Resolution by the British Columbia Law Institute is available online here: https://www.bcli.org/wp-content/uploads/BCLI-Study-Paper-on-Indigenous-Led-Conflict-Resolution.pdf.

BC Supreme Court Seeking Feedback on Ways to Address Delays in Civil and Family Matters

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The Supreme Court of British Columbia is seeking input from litigants, the public, organizations, and members of the bar on ways to address challenges obtaining hearing dates and ways to ensure that matters are heard in a timely manner once scheduled. The B.C. Supreme Court has formed a Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group to review current practices and procedures and assess possible changes for regular and long chambers.

Potential changes for consideration include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Limiting regular (short) chambers to matters with time estimates of one hour or less;
  • Establishing set time slots (e.g. 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes) rather than having parties provide estimates;
  • For all chambers matters, stricter enforcement of existing rules, e.g. page limits for notices of application and application responses, requiring properly formed legal bases, eliminating serial affidavits and strict enforcement of time estimates.

The Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group welcomes feedback until Friday, September 5, 2025. To provide feedback, please send an email to Chambersfeedback@bccourts.ca.

For more information, including other changes that have been proposed, please visit: https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/documents/Feedback_Invited_Civil_and_Family_Chambers_Practice_Review.pdf.

Information in this post was gleaned from the official Supreme Court of British Columbia “Feedback Invited: Civil and Family Chambers Practice Review” release.

New Report Uses Socio-Legal Analysis and Data to Examine Consumer Racial Profiling

ajrn1 Leave a comment

Findings published in a new report underscore the prevalence of consumer racial profiling in Canada. The report describes consumer racial profiling as the experience of “an Indigenous, Black or other racialized persons, predominantly being followed around, singled out for scrutiny, or closely monitored by a clerk or guard who suspects they may steal or do something else criminal.”

The report uses socio-legal analysis, empirical data, and public health research to show how this underrecognized phenomenon acts as a present-day expression of colonialism and systemic racism. Consumer racial profiling represents a threat to reconciliation efforts, with the report’s authors calling for Indigenous-specific remedies to address the harms it presents. The report also discusses how consumer racial profiling is interrelated with legal consciousness, systemic discrimination, and access to justice.

Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada: A Neglected Human Rights Issue was written by Dr. Lorne Foster and Dr. Lesley Jacobs. The report is available in full here: https://www.strongascedar.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Signed-Expert-Report-on-Indigenous-Consumer-Racial-Profiling.pdf. The official press release is available here: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-expert-report-reveals-harms-of-indigenous-consumer-racial-profiling-in-canada-report-submitted-as-evidence-in-canadian-tire-human-rights-complaint-879720617.html.

Action Committee Releases 2024 Justice Development Goals Report

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The national Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters’ (Action Committee) 2024 Justice Development Goals report is now available. The report highlights the evolution of the Action Committee and a decade of progress on access to justice across Canada.

For the 2024 Justice Development Goals report, 86 organizations reported on 227 projects advancing access to justice. The report provides details on work carried out in 2024 under each of the 9 justice development goals. Additional information is provided on actions taken on Reconciliation in 2024. The 9 justice development goals are:

  • JDG 1: Address everyday legal problems
  • JDG 2: Meet legal needs
  • JDG 3: Make courts work better
  • JDG 4: Improve family justice
  • JDG 5: Work together
  • JDG 6: Build capability
  • JDG 7: Innovate
  • JDG 8: Analyse and learn
  • JDG 9: Improve funding strategies

Justice Development Goals – A Decade of Progress: Trends Report 2024 is available in English here: https://ajrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/928d9-jdgreport2024.pdf. The report is available in French here: https://ajrn.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/b9eba-odjreport2024.pdf.

New Paper Examines Relationship between Economic Abuse and Family Businesses in Family Law

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) recently released a study paper examining the relationship between economic abuse and family businesses in the context of family law. Understanding Economic Abuse through Family Businesses in Family Law brings attention to a widely overlooked yet deeply harmful form of family violence – one that remains underexplored in legal literature and case law.

The paper explores several key questions, drawing on case law and insights from key informant interviews to examine:

  • What is economic abuse?
  • What is the relationship between economic abuse and family businesses?
  • How are family law cases addressing economic abuse through family businesses?
  • What are the challenges to addressing this type of violence?

Economic abuse includes behaviours that control a partner’s access to financial resources. While it is increasingly recognized in social science, the paper notes it remains poorly understood in legal practice. Family violence includes not only physical and sexual abuse, but also forms of coercive control – such as economic abuse.

Economic abuse is difficult to detect, easy to excuse as ordinary business judgment, and difficult to litigate. The BCLI study identifies how family businesses often enable coercive control during and after relationship breakdowns, especially in matters affecting spousal support and property division.

The paper finds that while legal tools exist, they are underutilized and their capacity to deliver fair outcomes in these cases is doubted by lawyers and victims/survivors. The paper also identifies a general lack of information and significant knowledge gaps on the topic.

While the study paper does not offer formal recommendations for future action, the author, Alison M. Wilkinson, emphasizes the need for more information on how economic abuse through family business is emerging and affecting people.

The study paper is available online here: https://www.bcli.org/publication/study-paper-economic-abuse-family-law/.

Canadian Journal of Law and Society Publishes Special Issue on People-Centred Justice

ajrn1 Leave a comment

A new open access special issue on people-centred justice has been published by the Canadian Journal of Law and Society. The issue covers almost a dozen topics including:

  • People-Centred Justice: Reimagining Law, Institutions and Process by Andrew Pilliar and Michelle Lawrence
  • People-Centered Justice in International Assistance: Rule-of-Law Path Dependencies or New Paths to Justice for All? by Adrian Di Giovanni and Maaike De Langen
  • Person-Centred Justice and Dispute Resolution: The Potential of Lay Courts by Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly
  • Towards People-Centered Justice: The Conflict Resolution Routes of People Facing Legal Problems by Megan Capp and Yvon Dandurand
  • Using Social Media as a Tool to Inform Person-Centred Justice by Matthew Dylag
  • Court Form Accessibility: Adopting, Designing and Evaluating Online Guided Pathways by Amy Salyzyn, Jacquelyn Burkell, Esti Azizi and David Westcott
  • Welfarism and People-Centred Justice by Noel Semple

The special issue is available online here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/issue/1A0FBAF126BB8296AC0466ACA65CB67C.

Upcoming Access to Justice and Artificial Intelligence Events

ajrn1 Leave a comment

On 20 March 2025, from 11.00 a.m. – 12.30 p.m. CET (6:00 a.m. – 7:30 a.m. EDT), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) will host a webinar on: Transforming Access to Justice through Artificial Intelligence.

Policymakers, legal experts, front-line activists, and justice innovators will discuss opportunities, risks, and governance strategies for AI-driven justice solutions and the broader role of AI in access to justice.

For more information, or to register, please visit: https://www.hiil.org/our-events/ai4justice-transforming-access-to-justice-through-artificial-intelligence/.

_______________________________________________________________________________

On 2 April 2025, the Peter A. Allart School of Law at The University of British Columbia will host an AI and Law (Student) Symposium under the theme: Exploring Innovation, Challenges, and Legal Implications of a Technological Revolution.

Undergraduate and graduate students will engage in discussions on various topics related to AI and law, including:

  • AI & Free Expression: Algorithmic content moderation and political speech
  • AI & Litigation: Challenges in administrative and immigration law cases
  • AI & Accountability: Who is responsible when AI deceives?
  • AI & Creativity: The ownership of AI-generated works
  • AI & Journalism: Legal risks of AI in news reporting
  • AI & Law Practice: Regulating AI in legal decision-making
  • AI Personhood: How should we approach legal status for AI agents?

For more information, visit: https://allard.ubc.ca/about-us/events-calendar/ai-law-symposium.

Access to Justice Week BC Takes Place February 3-7, 2025

ajrn1 Leave a comment

This year, Access to Justice Week BC will take place from February 3-7, 2025. Law students, legal professionals, law professors and others have organized and are participating in sessions under the Week’s theme “What does the future of access to justice look like?”

Sessions will take place in-person, online, or in a hybrid format. Sessions taking place as part of Access to Justice Week BC 2025 include:

Monday, February 3, 2025:
Reimagining Justice through User-Centred Principles
Speakers:
Zach Zarnow, Deputy Managing Director, National Center for State Courts
Dr. Andrew Pilliar, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University
Angie Still, Virtual Client Navigator, BC First Nations Justice Council
Moderator:  Sarah McCoubrey, Director of IJC Transformation, BC First Nations Justice Council

Tuesday, February 4, 2025:
Access to Justice for Victims of Economic Abuse
Speakers:
Dr. McKay White, Associate Professor, Department of International Business, Marketing, Strategy & Law, MacEwan University

Wednesday, February 5, 2025:
Access to Justice in the AI Era:  Risk vs. Innovation
Speakers:
Professor Amy Salyzyn, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa
Michael Litchfield, Director, Faculty of Law, Artificial Intelligence Risk and Regulation Lab & the Business Law Clinic, University of Victoria | Associate Director, BC Access to Justice Centre for Excellence
Moderator:  Tina Parbhakar, Strategic Coordinator, Access to Justice BC

Thursday, February 6, 2025:
A2J Data Working Lunch

Bridging the Justice Gap: Hackathons as Catalysts for Change
Speakers:
Brandon Hastings, Lawyer & Mediator
Dr. Megan Ma, Associate Director, CodeX and Law, Science, Technology Program, Stanford Law School
Amy A. Emerson, Assistant Dean for Library and Information Services & Professor of Law, Villanova University
Insiya Jamal, Project Manager at the University of Pennsylvania’s Responsible Computer Challenge and Senior Associate at the King’s College of the University of Cambridge
Zarja Hude, Senior Associate, King’s College, University of Cambridg
Moderator: Hayley Woodin Hastings, Editor-in-Chief, Business in Vancouver (BIV)

Friday, February 7, 2025:
Access to Justice and Fair Proceedings:  The Fundamental Conflict Between an Inherently Complex Justice System and Self-Representation
Speakers:
Professor Nikos Harris KC, Faculty of Law, UBC Allard Law School
Other speakers will be announced shortly.

Additional details about sessions taking place during Access to Justice Week BC and information on how to register for sessions are available here: https://accesstojusticebc.ca/a2jweekbc/.

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

ajrn1 Leave a comment

“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.