Chief Justice Robert Bauman
Building Better Communities, One Grant at a Time
PART OF THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE MOVEMENT
Notaries’ Role in Access to Justice in BC
O
n June 12, 2019, the BC Notary Foundation joined more than 50 other justice system organizations in signing onto the “Access to Justice Triple Aim.”
There are various complex reasons why people have difficulty accessing the family and civil justice system.
In doing so, The Notary Foundation confirmed its commitment to being part of the solution to the access to justice problems in this province.
Even where legal aid is available for family and civil cases, most people do not meet the income requirements. To qualify, a one-person household must make $18,960 or less per year; a four-person family must make $41,640 or less per year. Most people make too much money to qualify for legal aid. Yet most people do not make enough money to afford to hire a private lawyer at $200 to $450 per hour.
(1) improving access to justice at a population level; (2) improving the experience of the users (people who have legal problems); and (3) improving costs—not just spending money to better effect in the justice system but also reducing costs in other sectors by improving access to justice.
Access to Justice BC started as a response to the National Action Volume 28 Number 3 Fall 2019
And by justice system, I mean to include not just the Courts, but all services, institutions, and organizations that support people to get the skills, knowledge, resources, and services they need to manage legal problems. It most certainly includes BC Notaries. There are various complex reasons why people have difficulty accessing the family and civil justice system. Legal aid funds, for example, are reserved largely for use in criminal matters.
What is the Triple Aim? It is one aspirational goal with three interrelated elements:
The Triple Aim was adapted from the health sector to the justice sector by Access to Justice BC, a coalition of people and organizations within and outside the justice system working together to promote concrete change. I am Chair of Access to Justice BC and have occasionally blogged about its activities on the group’s website.
disturbing, too many don’t turn to the justice system in the first place with their legal problems.
The Honourable Robert Bauman
Committee on Family and Civil Justice Report, A Roadmap for Change. That report summarized some of the difficult facts we’ve known for many years: Too many ordinary Canadians struggle with their interactions with the justice system and, even more The Scrivener | www.notaries.bc.ca/scrivener
What do people do? In some cases they decide to represent themselves in Court. At the Court of Appeal, at least 40 percent of the litigants in family law appeals are self-represented. In other cases they may walk away from their legal problems, abandoning legal rights. Those most affected are often the most vulnerable members of our society, in particular Indigenous people. As Chief Justice of BC, I am deeply troubled by this situation. TABLE OF CONTENTS
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