Transform the Family Justice System A New Year’s Resolution

Jane Morley, QC

“I think we would all agree that family is the cornerstone of our communities, of our society, and of our country.

And yet our family justice system needs to make a profound shift. We cannot ignore the science. We are beyond the time of incremental change. It is time to positively support families at their time of greatest need, a time of grief and restructuring, by transforming the family justice system to support family well-being.” Nancy Cameron, QC, at the BC/Yukon Colloquium on Transforming the Family Justice System, November 23, 2020

This is a call for action and what better time than at the beginning of a New Year, when we are making New Year’s Resolutions, to respond to that call. Together let us resolve to transform the family justice system so that it works better for families.

Richard Susskind in his recent book, Online Courts and the Future of Justice, advocates for a broader view of the justice system and of access to justice.

Access to justice is about more than getting your day in Court with a lawyer by your side. Very few families with family justice issues actually end up in Court. Access to justice is also about dispute resolution outside of Court; it is about dispute containment and dispute avoidance and it is about legal health promotion—empowering people to access the many benefits that the law can confer.

This is a call for action and what better time than at the beginning of a New Year, when we are making New Year’s Resolutions, to respond to that call.

BC Notaries serve families and many of the families they serve are simultaneously experiencing family justice issues. That puts Notaries on the front-line when it comes to transforming the family justice system. Notaries are right there at the intersection between families and the justice system. They observe the challenges of families trying to manage family justice issues. While Notaries cannot provide legal advice on family law, they can refer families to where they need to go for help, when they need that help. They can also provide other supports for family members that do not require being a member of the Law Society.

Notaries are in a good position to really understand how access to justice is not just about process; it is about creating the conditions that allow people to live a good life.1 In the family justice system, improving access to justice means designing a system that promotes family well-being. After many years of talk, now is the time to move forward on this.

Access to Justice BC (A2JBC) is a collaboration of justice sector stakeholders that have aligned around the Access to Justice Triple Aim. https://accesstojusticebc.ca/ the-a2j-triple-aim/. Notaries are an important part of the justice sector, who through their organizations— The Notary Foundation, The Society of Notaries of BC, and the BC Notaries Association—have endorsed the Triple Aim.

In October 2019, the Access to Justice BC (A2JBC) Leadership Group committed to addressing the negative impacts on child well-being when families are interacting with the family justice system. It directed that a “practical” leadership plan be developed for A2JBC to meet this commitment.

1 Farrow, Trevor C.W. “What is Access to Justice?” Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Volume 51, Issue 3 (Spring 2014), at pp 970-972, available online at: http://digitalcommons. osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol51/iss3/10

A working group report, https://m5k.dc7.myftpupload.com/ wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ Report-A2JBC-Family-JusticeLeadership-Strategy-November2020-final.pdf, was recently presented to the A2JBC Leadership Group. It makes recommendations for the first phase of an A2JBC leadership plan.

The report recommends that A2JBC lead a collaborative directed at transforming the family justice system by focusing on family wellbeing. The “Transform the Family Justice System” (TFJS) Collaborative will coordinate the efforts of the many organizations and individuals (both in the justice sector and across other sectors) needed to make this transformation happen. It encourages innovative activities at both the community and provincial level, and integration with familyfocused policies and programs in other sectors. It is a plan in which Notaries can participate . . . on their own and in collaboration with others in their communities.

The road to transformation of the family justice system starts with a shift away from concentrating on the system itself, to making child, youth, and family well-being the focus—the North Star that guides decisionmaking along the way. This paradigm shift leads to understanding the family justice system as part of a larger supportive ecosystem involving health, education, and other societal systems and provincial and community actors outside the justice system.

In her call for action, Nancy Cameron warns us not to ignore the science. We are paying attention. The TFJS Collaborative will ground itself in the established scientific evidence about healthy brain development, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Resilience. Families dealing with family justice issues often experience toxic levels of stress that have an immediate adverse health impact on all family members and risk long-term negative consequences, particularly for the children.

The adversarial paradigm, upon which the Court system is based, tends to exacerbate this stress. The good news is that something can be done to ameliorate the negative impacts: The toxic stress can be reduced; the resilience of children and adults can be strengthened; and family members can be supported through family transitions and stressful family situations. Notaries have a role to play in this.

The journey toward transforming the family justice system has already begun in BC. To reach the goal requires many people and organizations aligning around common strategic objectives, coordinating activities, and assessing success by using shared measures. Please make it your New Year’s Resolution to join in this initiative. s Jane Morley, QC, is Strategic Coordinator, Access to Justice BC.

Figure 1: Family Justice Paradigm Shift VISION: A family justice system that, together ENVIR O NMENTSOC I ETY COMM UNITYFAM ILY CHILDH e a l t h S ystem • Education System • Justice System • Econ o m y Cu ltu re • C ommunity Services • Community Org a n i z ati ons M oth er • Father • Extended Fam i l y GOAL: with other societal systems, Child, Youth, and Family supports children and families well-being

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