Putting children at the centre

At the most recent meeting of the A2JBC Leadership Group on October 30, 2019, I was grateful for the opportunity to hear the perspective of experts, advocates and justice system participants on the topic of adverse childhood experience. The challenge posed to the group was how we—as leaders inside and outside of the justice system—can…

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Face the strange*

One of A2JBC’s messages has been that improving access to the justice system will require taking some risks. A2JBC has also said that effective change will require collaboration and experimentation. We will need to explore ideas that may seem threatening or even, to some, antithetical to justice. Putting the user at the centre of the…

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Understanding the value of alternative dispute resolution

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice recently released a report evaluating different dispute resolution methods in family law matters. The report was based on a survey that asked family lawyers for their views on the usefulness of collaborative settlement processes, mediation, arbitration and litigation to resolve family law disputes. The results indicated that family lawyers…

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Access to justice for children and youth

Last week I had the opportunity to meet with lawyers from the Child and Youth Legal Centre, launched earlier this fall. Donna Maser, managing lawyer, and Suzette Narbonne, child and youth lawyer, described the Centre’s mandate: to advance the legal rights of children and youth in order to improve their well-being in British Columbia. Children…

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Innovation in action

Canadian Lawyer magazine recently published two stories about the Aspire Legal Access Initiative (“Aspire”), an initiative which I think represents the type of innovation A2JBC encourages. Aspire seeks to empower self-represented clients dealing with family law matters to navigate the system themselves with the support of affordable, limited scope services. Aspire’s model relies primarily on…

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Skills for Changing Families

Intractable, high conflict disputes between parents experiencing separation and divorce have devastating psychological, emotional, social, and physical effects – particularly on children.

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