A New Vision for Access to Justice

The purpose of this piece is to introduce a new national paper from the Action Committee on Access to Justice, Towards Justice as a Common Good.[1]

For transparency, I am a co-author of this paper, together with the Chair of the Action Committee, the Honourable Andromache Karakatsanis, Supreme Court of Canada, Véronique Morissette, Executive Director of the Action Committee, and Brea Lowenberger, Strategic Advisor of the Action Committee.

This Towards Justice as a Common Good paper is designed to provide new energy and a renewed vision for access to justice in Canada.[2]

People-Centred Justice

Significant strides have been made regarding access to justice over the past decades. Helpfully framed by what Macdonald described as access to justice “waves”,[3] we have a better understanding about how to think about access to justice and the need to focus on both the people and institutions that provide legal services, as well as – perhaps most important – those who need and use the justice system. In so doing, we also know more about the legal problems people experience, and the paths they take to address those challenges.[4] In Canada, for example, based on the national “Cost of Justice” research we did at the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, we know that most Canadians will experience a significant legal issue over the course of their lifetime.[5] Further, legal problems often lead to further legal challenges, are often connected to social and economic conditions, and are experienced more heavily by marginalized individuals and communities.[6] We also know that, for those who experience legal problems, less than 20% receive legal help; and of those who do attempt to resolve their problems, less than 7% report appearing before courts or tribunals to deal with their legal problems.[7]

In terms of costs, we know that legal problems lead to significant monetary and other costs for individuals, as well as significant systemic costs on health, social, and other services.[8] As such, we know that better access to justice creates positive social returns on public investments (in terms of savings in health care, social services, etc.).[9] We are also starting to understand more about the long-term benefits of access to justice on the overall lives and well-being of individuals and communities.[10]

Taken together, our increased focus on the needs and experiences of everyday people – what we understand as a paradigm shift toward people-centred justice – is now relatively widely accepted across courts, governments, the legal profession, and the academy.[11]

As we commented in the Action Committee’s Roadmap for Change report more than a decade ago,[12] and as articulated by Justice Karakatsanis in her widely cited Hryniak decision,[13] for this change in focus to occur, a culture shift has been required: one that takes seriously not only the tools available from legal service providers (courts, tribunals, lawyers, experts, etc.), but also – and centrally – the needs and experiences of legal service users (people, organizations, communities, etc.). After all, it is individuals and communities that access to justice is ultimately about.

Overall, we now have a better understanding that: legal problems are often mixed with social and economic conditions; more attention on user needs and experiences is beneficial; early intervention is important for user outcomes and institutional resources; service opportunities often expand through interdisciplinary collaborations between traditional services (lawyers, courts, etc.) and non-traditional providers (community organizations, paralegals, intermediaries, etc.); access to appropriate legal services and assistance often leads to better outcomes; creating opportunities for empowerment and prevention is often helpful; evidence-based thinking is required; and proper resources are necessary. Importantly, we are also seeing significant access to justice activity and energy in the work of an increasing number of researchers and organizations globally as well.[14]

Challenges Remain

However, notwithstanding this important and increasingly well-documented people-centred justice paradigm shift, massive access to justice challenges remain. For years, the state of access to justice in Canada has been regularly described in terms of a crisis.[15] Former Chief Justice of Canada Beverley McLachlin stated in 2012 that “we do not have adequate access to justice in Canada”.[16] The following year, the Action Committee called out the “serious access to justice problem” in Canada.[17] This fall, in his foreword to this Towards Justice as a Common Good paper, the current Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, PC, states, when speaking about current access to justice challenges, that: “too many individuals and communities continue to encounter significant barriers when looking for help.”[18] We also know this challenge is not limited to Canada. According to the Task Force on Justice, approximately two thirds of the world’s population lack meaningful access to justice.[19]

Notwithstanding that Canada arguably has the best judges, lawyers, justice administrators, academics, and other justice sector stakeholders in the world, the general public still does not have timely and affordable access to the necessary tools of justice (courts, legal providers, and related justice and community services, etc.).[20] By way of one example, the Advocates’ Society – in its Delay No Longer report – provided various statements about access to justice challenges, including the following:

In Ontario, it currently takes almost 1.5 years for a motion longer than 2 hours to be heard by a judge in Toronto; more than 1.5 years after the trial management conference (or more than 4 to 5 years from the issuance of the original application) for a 3-week family law trial to be heard by a judge in Brampton; and more than 4 to 5 years for a civil action to proceed from commencement to trial.[21]

Building on what the Canadian Bar Association called for in 2013, it is still the case that Canada has a “need for significant change to improve access to justice”.[22] 

Towards Justice as a Common Good

It is at this point that the Action Committee’s new Towards Justice as a Common Good paper hopes to add to the conversation. The purpose of our paper, recognizing recent strides but also acknowledging ongoing challenges, is to advance a renewed vision for access to justice in Canada.

At the outset, it is important to acknowledge that our paper builds on the learning and experience developed by decades of work done by client-centred, front-line service providers in the legal aid and legal services sectors; an increasingly sophisticated (although still developing) body of legal needs and access to justice research; and – perhaps most important – the lived realities of people and communities from different regions and backgrounds across this diverse country. It is this extensive work, this body of knowledge, and these lived realities, to which the Action Committee has devoted its energy and engagement over the past decade and more, including on our most recent listening tour across Canada.[23]

Following the introduction, which frames a values-based approach to access to justice, our Towards Justice as a Common Good paper includes two main parts: part one includes a vision for access to justice as a common good; and part two includes a set of principles offered to accelerate the paradigm shift towards justice as a common good.[24] The paper ends with some brief concluding reflections.

Vision

The purpose of this first part of our paper is to discuss what we mean by a renewed vision for access to justice. We see justice as a common good, framing it as a shared public foundation, necessary for the proper functioning of the rule of law, democratic life, the realization of rights and fairness, together with individual and community trust and well–being.[25]

The paper takes as a starting point the understanding that access to justice is not only about resolving disputes, but also about helping people and communities to meet their basic needs, exercise their rights, and enjoy meaningful participation in society. In many ways, it is about access to some meaningful notion of the good life.[26]

Our Towards Justice as a Common Good paper is framed around core values set out in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms,[27] and the defining place it holds in Canadian society. Specifically, we identify the Charter values of dignity, true equality, and fairness, and then situate access to justice as a fundamental right – the core mechanism – through which those values take on meaning in the lives of people and, together, in communities. As such, we recognize that access to justice is a core aspect of a free and democratic society. It is the mechanism through which people experience the rule of law in daily life. Basic human needs – food, water, housing, safety, education, health, etc. – should be provided justly and through laws and rules that reflect our shared values. As such, justice should be understood as a basic human need.[28]

The purpose of this renewed vision for access to justice is not to replace the people-centred justice paradigm; rather, we suggest understanding, situating, and mobilizing that paradigm in terms of justice as a common good.[29]

This approach recognizes that everyone wants, and everyone deserves justice to promote well-being in their daily lives. It is also a way of collectively understanding justice as essential public infrastructure: the basic social tools and structures that make living together in society possible and meaningful. This public infrastructure should be accessible, prevention-oriented, outcome-focused, and sustained through collective responsibility, which enables all of us to experience justice in our daily lives.[30]

Seeing access to justice as both an individual and as a collective need, responsibility, and opportunity, we briefly draw potential parallels to Canada’s experience in its approach to health care. As we think about how to better serve the legal needs and collective justice well-being of Canadians, we might benefit from looking at the lessons learned in how we generally understand health and well-being as a common good. The point is not to call for one specific model or economic allocation; rather, we are inviting readers to think creatively about the potential of providing meaningful access to justice, not only in terms of individual rights and needs, but also in terms of community well-being derived through social and economic benefits and efficiencies.[31]

Overall, by focusing on a vision of justice as a common good, we see justice not only as a tool to provide help for individuals in crisis, but also as a shared system that helps build a fair, just, and truly equal society for all. This vision is designed to speak to all stakeholders: governments, courts and tribunals, the legal profession, community organizations, educators and researchers, funders, professionals across sectors, and perhaps most important, the public. In so doing, we ask everyone to think deliberatively, collaboratively, and creatively about how we design and deliver justice information, education, pathways, and services to best serve the public.[32]

Action

The purpose of this second part of our paper is to help accelerate a paradigm shift towards justice as a common good. Specifically, we seek to connect vision and action by suggesting how the values associated with justice as a common good – dignity, true equality, and fairness, together with collective responsibility – have been and can be put into practice. Learning from national and international research, practice, expertise, and experience, we identify principles and practices for action, which are deliberatively grounded in the expertise and experiences of both justice system users, and legal system experts and providers.[33]

To connect vision to action, part two of the paper is framed around five primary principles, together with further points of consideration and reflection. Each of the five sections also includes some examples of ideas and initiatives that we have heard about and seen from across Canada and around the world, together with some further questions for consideration when looking to move these principles further forward.

Without fully developing all aspects of part two of our paper here, set out below are the five main principles and primary points of consideration for justice system design and reform, which our paper suggests may be helpful for better advancing justice as a common good.

• Legal empowerment and prevention, including:
  • legal consciousness;
  • legal literacy; and
  • legal capability.

• Networks of pathways to legal help and resolution, with attention to:
  • the value of early and integrated pathways;
  • understanding the diversity of users, communities, regions and circumstances;
  • involvement of a wide range of traditional and non-traditional actors;
  • the continuing and evolving role of courts and tribunals, recognizing the ongoing value of public justice; and
  • continuity and alignment of pathways.

• Designing services around people’s needs and lived experiences, with attention to:
  • participatory engagement and cultural responsiveness;
  • accessibility;
  • timely, fair, proportionate, and affordable justice; and
  • continuous learning and improvement (including with the benefit of subject-matter expertise).

• Evidence-based culture, with attention to:
  • evolving measurement and evaluation methods;
  • advancing capacity and coordination;
  • actively using data to inform decisions and policies; and
  • developing local and national infrastructure strategies.

• Sustainable resourcing.[34]

It is important to acknowledge that part two of our paper is not a set of instructions or a blueprint. It does not purport to provide a comprehensive list or set of “best practices”. It builds on various examples and experiences, some of which are already in place; and further, it includes points of reflection, some of which are already being considered. However, overall, this part of our paper seeks to encourage readers to consider how these principles and considerations relate to their own roles, contexts, and day–to–day work, and how we might – together – make meaningful strides to address the remaining access to justice challenges in this country and move justice forward as a common good.[35]

Conclusion

So why should we care about access to justice? Simply put: a lack of meaningful access to justice remains one of the greatest challenges for the rule of law. Given today’s local and global social, political, and economic challenges, the ability for people to meet their basic needs, exercise their rights, and participate fully in their communities has never been more important.[36]

Meaningful access to justice is necessary, not only for the proper functioning of basic institutions of society (governments, democracies, public regulators, business relations, the reliable exchange of goods and services, the peaceful transfer of power, etc.); not only because better access to justice creates positive social returns on public investments (savings in health care, social services, etc.);[37] but because meaningful access to justice leads to better lives for individuals and communities. Put simply, meaningful access to justice should matter for everyone.

We understand that leadership, courage, innovation, collaboration, and imagination will be required.[38]

Overall, our goal in this Towards Justice as a Common Good paper is to describe a justice system that supports people across their full life journey – from preventing legal problems to resolving them fairly and efficiently. It pushes the justice system to continually improve systems based on what people need and experience. It outlines the features of legal and related services grounded in a vision of justice as a common good. It focusses on both process and outcomes. It recognizes the importance of both traditional and non-traditional actors and stakeholders. And it treats access to justice as a shared public infrastructure, designed to advance well-being and avoid and resolve legal disputes with dignity, true equality, and fairness.[39]

—

Trevor CW Farrow
Dean & Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
Chair, Canadian Forum on Civil Justice

_________________

[1] Hon Andromache Karakatsanis, Trevor CW Farrow, Véronique Morissette & Brea Lowenberger, A Vision for Access to Justice: Towards Justice as a Common Good, a paper prepared for the Action Committee on Access to Justice (Ottawa: Action Committee on Access to Justice, 13 October 2026) (“Towards Justice as a Common Good”).

[2] Parts of this introductory piece reproduce – directly or indirectly – parts of our Towards Justice as a Common Good paper.

[3] Roderick A Macdonald, “Access to Justice in Canada Today: Scope, Scale and Ambitions” in Julia Bass, WA Bogart & Frederick H Zemans, eds, Access to Justice for a New Century – The Way Forward (Toronto: LSUC, 2005) at 19.

[4] For pioneering work, see e.g. Hazel Genn et al, Paths to Justice: What People do and Think About Going to Law (Oxford, UK: Hart, 1999); Pascoe Pleasence et al, Causes of Action: Civil Law and Social Justice (Norwich, UK: Legal Services Commission, 2004); Ab Currie, “A National Survey of the Civil Justice Problems of Low- and Moderate Income Canadians: Incidence and Patterns” (2006) 13:3 Int’l J Legal Prof 217.

[5] Trevor CW Farrow et al, Everyday Legal Problems and the Costs of Justice in Canada: Overview Report (Toronto: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, 2016) at 2 (“Everyday Legal Problems”). See also the Government of Canada, “The Canadian Legal Problems Survey” (Ottawa: Government of Canada, 2021).

[6] See e.g. generally Everyday Legal Problems, ibid.

[7] Everyday Legal Problems, ibid at 9.

[8] Everyday Legal Problems, ibid at 12-19.

[9] See e.g. Lisa Moore & Trevor CW Farrow, Investing in Justice: Literature Review in Support of the Case for Improved Access (Toronto: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, August 2019) (“Investing in Justice”).

[10] Trevor CW Farrow, Lisa Moore & Ab Currie, “Measuring the Impacts of Legal Services: Bibliography, Network and Methodology” (Toronto: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, June 2020); Lisa Moore, “Measuring Impacts of Legal Services: A Literature Review on Research Design and Methodology” (Toronto: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, June 2020); Lisa Moore, “Understanding the Impacts of Access to Legal Help” Slaw (26 November 2020). This “Measuring the Impact of Legal Service Interventions” research, through the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, is ongoing.

[11] Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at 15.

[12] Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, Access to Civil & Family Justice: A Roadmap for Change (Ottawa: Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, 2013) (“Roadmap for Change”) at pt 2.

[13] Hryniak v Mauldin, 2014 SCC 7, para 2.

[14] See e.g. World Justice Project; OECD, “Access to Justice”.

[15] See generally, Trevor CW Farrow & Lesley A Jacobs, eds, The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2020) (“Justice Crisis”) at 4-5.

[16] Rt Hon Beverley McLachlin, PC, “Foreword” in Michael Trebilcock, Anthony Duggan & Lorne Sossin, eds, Middle Income Access to Justice (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2012) at ix.

[17] Roadmap for Change, supra note 12 at iii.

[18] Rt Hon Richard Wagner, PC, in Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at 5.

[19] Task Force on Justice, Justice for All – Final Report (New York: Center on International Cooperation, 2019) at 18. See further World Justice Project, “Measuring the Justice Gap: A People-Centered Assessment of Unmet Justice Needs Around the World” (6 February 2019) at 5. See recently World Justice Project, WJP Rule of Law Index (2026).

[20] For a recent global comparison, see e.g. World Justice Project, WJP Rule of Law Index (2026).

[21] The Advocates’ Society, Delay No Longer. The Time to Act is Now. A Call for Action on Delay in the Civil Justice System (Toronto: Advocates’ Society, 2023) at 3.

[22] Canadian Bar Association, Reaching Equal Justice: An Invitation to Envision and Act (Ottawa: Canadian Bar Association, August 2013) at 1. See also Roadmap for Change, supra note 12.

[23] See e.g. Action Committee on Access to Justice.

[24] Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at pts 1, 2.

[25] Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at 8-10, 11-13, 16-18.

[26] See earlier Trevor CW Farrow, “What is Access to Justice?” (2014) 51 Osgoode Hall LJ 957 at 982-984.

[27] Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, pt 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being sched B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

[28] Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at 8-9, 13-15, 17-18.

[29] Ibid at 8, 15-17.

[30] Ibid. at 8-9, 18.

[31] Ibid at 16-17. For related discussions, see e.g. Trevor CW Farrow, “Access to justice and the legal profession: Three questions” (Spring 2024) Advocates’ J 6 at 9; Trevor CW Farrow & Lesley A Jacobs, “Taking Meaningful Access to Justice in Canada Seriously” in Justice Crisis, supra note 15 at 3.

[32] Towards Justice as a Common Good, ibid at 8-9, 16-18.

[33] Ibid at 9, 19-21.

[34] Ibid at 20-36.

[35] Ibid at 21.

[36] Ibid at 36.

[37] See generally Investing in Justice, supra note 9.

[38] Towards Justice as a Common Good, supra note 1 at 36-37.

[39] Ibid at 9, 36-37.