Civil Justice Systems in Canada

Michel-Adrien points out the Civil justice system reform underway in Ontario, and reading it I realize I’ve been a bit remiss in not reporting earlier on the success of the Into the Future Conference, organized by my workplace, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice in partnership with the Canadian Bar Association, the Association of Canadian Court Administrators, and the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice.

The Conference is proceeding in two parts. The first part was in Montreal in May, and was attended by 285 participants including judges, lawyers, court administrators, policy makers, mediators, academics and litigants from every jurisdiction in the country. Sessions for Part I were designed to ensure that we consider the major areas of concern originally identified in the 1996 CBA Task Force Report, and to allow opportunities for discussion about the direction of future reform initiatives The discussion at Part I centered on problem definition, and we found that there is significant consensus about the issues facing our civil justice systems, being primarily cost, delay and complexity. There were also very rich and lively discussions about some viable responses to these problems, such as ADR, streamlined procedures, self-help centres and proportionality rules. It was clear throughout the discussions that there is a need for significant reforms of our civil justice system, but that there are impediments to reform. In this context, the multi-media presentation by the Forum on the public perspectives on civil justice systems, derived from our larger research project Civil Justice Systems and the Public, was well received, and there was interest in more research of this kind. The Forum’s written report, Learning from Experiences was released at the Conference.

The second part of the Conference will be held in Toronto on December 7th and 8th, 2006, and will be in the form of a working group designed to ensure that the progress of civil justice reform is maintained. Part II of the Conference will be action-oriented, building on the discussions at Part I and seeking to establish a consensus on the national coordination of civil justice reform. This will allow more efficient use and allocation of scarce resources through coordination and collaboration between jurisdictions on research, policy development and pilot projects. It will also help to create a stronger voice to speak for the civil justice system and for civil justice system funding.

Our conference website is being regularly updated. Conference papers will be made available in the coming months.

We have published a Special Conference Issue of the Forum publication, News & Views on Civil Justice Reform, which was mailed out to a broad audience in March 2006. This Special Issue captures the emphasis on the needs and expectations of users of the civil justice system. It also touches on important issues surrounding ADR and court technology. We have also made available an Interim Report on the state of civil justice systems in Canada, which was completed to hyelp focus the discussion at part 1 of the conference.

We are also seeking a publisher who will commit to the publication of Conference Proceedings. These will be in the nature of an edited collection of papers, with significant contextual content written by the editors Trevor Farrow, Professor at Osgoode Hall and a member of the Board of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice , and Diana Lowe, Executive Director of the Forum.

Finally, stay tuned. There are some interesting possiblilities arising from this meeting…