Category National

Public Legal Education Association of Canada Announces National Conference, Issues Call for Proposals

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The Public Legal Education Association of Canada (PLEAC) will hold their annual conference on February 18 and 19, 2026, with an additional event on February 20, 2026, for producers of public legal education and information. This year’s conference will be held in Ottawa.

PLEAC is currently accepting proposals on topics that underscore the use and importance of tools and strategies for public legal education, emerging research on public legal education, or collaborative approaches in public legal education and access to justice. Potential themes include:

  • Using evolving technologies effectively, including interactive tools and generative AI
  • Using data in a practical way to inform and improve public legal education work
  • Experiences with and strategies for connecting with rural and remote, and Indigenous communities
  • Supporting the critical justice-related work being done on the front lines by non-lawyer community workers across Canada

While completed proposals are preferred, the organizing committee will review proposals where session/presentation details are not yet finalized. Proposals will be accepted until Friday, October 10, 2025 via this form.

Registration for the conference will open soon and will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, and space is limited. 

For more information about the PLEAC National Conference, please visit the PLEAC website here: https://www.pleac-aceij.ca/our-work/annual-conference/.

Annual Conference Aims to Promote Canadian Leadership in AI and Tech for Justice

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The 2025 Autonomy through Cyberjustice Technologies (ACT) Partnership Conference aims to bring attention to Canada’s leadership in artificial intelligence and technological innovation in the justice system. The ACT conference is an annual gathering that has taken place since 2018. It is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and brings together dozens of partners and stakeholders representing all areas of the justice system.

This year’s ACT Conference includes panels and presentations on the following themes:

  • Legal Contestability and Scientific Falsifiability in AI Decision-Making
  • Regulating AI in the Justice Sector (The Regulatory Reflex)
  • Experimenting with AI Technologies to Enhance Judicial Actors’ Autonomy
  • Lessons to Improve Practices of Justice Stakeholders
  • Young Researchers: AI & Tech, Justice and Politics

The 2025 ACT Conference takes place from October 15-16, 2025, in Montreal. Information about Conference is available online here: https://www.ajcact.org/en/conference-2025/program/. Additional details about the ACT Project are available here: https://www.ajcact.org/en.

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.

National Action Committee to Host Conference on Data Sharing and Knowledge Building

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters will host its inaugural access to justice research conference from May 26-28, 2026, under the theme “Advancing People-Centred Justice in Canada: Data Sharing and Knowledge Building”. The conference will take place at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. Proposals are being accepted until October 1, 2026.

Proposals may be individual, joint or panel presentations, workshops, roundtables, or other formats. Those interested in submitting a proposal are encouraged to use one of the following themes or a related theme:

  • Data mapping and exploring
  • Data access and sharing
  • Data and knowledge needs/gaps
  • New knowledge (new data analysis)
  • Understanding people-centered justice
  • Priority justice seekers

For more information about the Action Committee’s conference, please visit: https://www.justicedevelopmentgoals.ca/events.

Information about the conference is available in French here: https://www.objectifsdelaccesalajustice.ca/evenements.

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/.

CBA Calls for Major Overhaul of Canada’s Immigration Framework

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has released a new submission aimed at modernizing Canada’s immigration law. The submission includes 100 recommendations, informed by insights from legal professionals—lawyers, tribunal members, and judges—who regularly engage with the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

The 100 recommendations outlined in the CBA’s Law, Technology, and Accountability: Reimagining Canadian Immigration for the 21st Century submission focus on strengthening the IRPA and ensuring it lives up to its original vision.

The CBA submission notes that the recommendations “are not just legal refinements; they are grounded in a belief that Canada’s immigration system must be people-centered, operationally sound, and consistent with our constitutional and international obligations while safeguarding integrity and security.”

The CBA News Release discussing the Law, Technology, and Accountability: Reimagining Canadian Immigration for the 21st Century submission is available in English here: https://cba.org/news/the-cba-immigration-law-section-proposes-100-recommendations-to-modernize-canada-s-immigration-law/ and French here: https://cba.org/fr-ca/news/the-cba-immigration-law-section-proposes-100-recommendations-to-modernize-canada-s-immigration-law/.

Law, Technology, and Accountability: Reimagining Canadian Immigration for the 21st Century is available in English here: https://cba.org/CBA/media/PDFs/Our%20Impact/Submission/2025/25-19-eng.pdf.

Droit, technologie et responsabilisation : Repenser l’immigration canadienne pour le 21e siècle est disponible en français ici : https://cba.org/CBA/media/PDFs/Our%20Impact/Submission/2025/25-19-fr.pdf.

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.

Canadian Judicial Council Publishes Review of Complaints Report

ajrn1 Leave a comment

The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) has published a report on the “Review of Complaints About Federally Appointed Judges” for the period from January – December 2024. The judicial conduct review process “provides a means for the public to voice concerns about judges, while giving those judges an opportunity to respond to those concerns”. The CJC reviews all complaints of misconduct involving any federally appointed judges. The following are some of the topics and information included in the report:

  • Information on the Administration of the Judicial Conduct Regime
  • Overview of the Disclosure of Information in Complaint Matters
  • Caseload for 2024
  • Details about the Judicial Conduct Committee of Council
  • Information on how laypersons are involved in reviewing complaints
  • Commentary on the Link Between Judicial Conduct and Education, Ethics, and Judicial Independence
  • Complaint Summaries

The report is the first by the CJC to cover a full calendar year of complaints reviewed by the oversight body.

The Canadian Judicial Council Annual Report on the Review of Complaints About Federally Appointed Judges is available in English here: https://cjc-ccm.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2025/CJC_ComplaintsReview2024_e.pdf.

Le rapport annuel du Conseil canadien de la magistrature sur l’examen des plaintes au sujet des juges de nomination fédérale est disponible en français ici : https://cjc-ccm.ca/sites/default/files/documents/2025/CJC_ComplaintsReview2024_f.pdf.

Justice Canada Releases First Federal Indigenous Justice Strategy

ajrn1 Leave a comment

Canada’s Department of Justice, in collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis published the first federal Indigenous Justice Strategy. The Indigenous Justice Strategy seeks to “advance effective and concrete measures, shaped by the lived experiences of First Nations, Inuit and Métis, to improve Canada’s justice system and to support the revitalization of Indigenous laws.”

The first phase of the Indigenous Justice Strategy was pre-engagement, which took place during the summer of 2021. This was followed by Indigenous-led and Justice Canada-led engagement; reporting and development; validation; and the publication of the final Indigenous Justice Strategy on 10 March 2025. As part of its vision, the Indigenous Justice Strategy report notes that, “the Indigenous Justice Strategy aims to implement progressive and transformative reforms throughout the justice system to meaningfully address systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in contact with the Canadian justice system.”

In addition to presenting a vision, the Indigenous Justice Strategy report outlines (i) Principles and Goals, (ii) the Implementation of the Indigenous Justice Strategy, (iii) Priority Actions, (iv) First Nations Priorities, (v) Inuit Priorities, and (vi) Métis Priorities, among other items. Priority Actions discussed in the report include the following:

  • Collaborative relationship and accountability
  • Long-term and predictable funding
  • Justice and wellness
  • Administration of justice and access to justice – policing
  • Administration of justice and access to justice – corrections
  • Administration of justice and access to justice – revitalization and enforcement
  • Administration of justice and access to justice – legislation

The Indigenous Justice Strategy is available in English here: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/ijr-dja/ijs-sja/tijs-lsja/index.html.

Stratégie en matière de justice autochtone est disponible en français ici : https://www.justice.gc.ca/fra/sjc-csj/dja-ijr/sja-ijs/lsja-tijs/index.html.

The Justice Canada news release about the Indigenous Justice Strategy is available here: https://www.canada.ca/en/department-justice/news/2025/03/canadas-first-federal-indigenous-justice-strategy-to-address-systemic-discrimination-and-overrepresentation-in-the-canadian-justice-system.html.