The Triple Aim Signing Ceremony
Over 50 justice organizations agree to a common access to justice goal that puts user experience at the centre
Leaders of BC’s key justice organizations today joined Attorney General David Eby and Chief Justice of British Columbia Robert Bauman to mark the signing of the Access to Justice Triple Aim which will guide initiatives and reforms for making family and civil justice more accessible to British Columbians.
In the words of Chief Justice Bauman in a blog post introducing the Triple Aim:
"The endorsement of the Triple Aim demonstrates we have broad cross-sectoral agreement that, indeed, there is an access to justice problem — something we’ve known for years, if not decades — and that we are committed to doing something about it. More specifically, we are willing to start looking at the justice system from the perspective of the ordinary people who use it. We are willing to collaborate. We are willing to innovate."
Each participating organization commits to a common goal to improve access to justice in BC and to action to pursue that goal. The one goal has three interrelated elements: improving access to justice at the population (or sub-population) level, improving the experience of users who need access to justice and improving costs, which includes reducing costs in other sectors because of the benefits of improved access to justice.
Access to justice is about helping people prevent, manage and solve their legal problems, not just about going to court.
An example of an initiative directed at the Access to Justice Triple Aim is unbundling legal services so that more British Columbians can access the legal help they need in a way that works for them, and at a lower cost. Another example is the Family Justice Pathfinder project based in Kamloops which is working at designing a user-friendly way to connect family members experiencing separation or divorce to the information and services they need. Both initiatives focus on the needs and experiences of the user of the services.
Access to Justice BC borrowed the idea of a triple aim from the health sector, where it has been successfully used to promote innovation.
Access to Justice BC is a network of people and organizations from the judiciary, the government, not-for-profit justice organizations and the public dedicated to realizing a common vision - access to justice for all British Columbians.