Paths to Justice and the Resolution of Consumer Problems: Findings from the 2014 Everyday Legal Problems and the Costs of Civil Justice in Canada National Survey

This project analyzes the various ways Canadian citizens of different ethnicities try to resolve their consumer problems. Specifically; we look at whether respondents from some ethnic backgrounds are more likely than others to access the formal legal system as a means to resolve one or more consumer problems. We also try to link this to respondent’s conceptions of the legal system, both in general and with regard to its value in resolving these issues

Issues of Cost & Access in Canada’s Health Care System: Lessons for the Civil Justice System

There are numerous examples of rethinking costs in the Canadian health care system. Three of these provide us with a sense of why there might be useful lessons for the civil justice system

Issues of Cost & Access in Canadian’s Social Investment: Lessons for the Civil Justice System

Historically, the dominant discourse within the welfare state was one of redistribution and the paternalistic protection of citizens against social risks such as unemployment, illness, disability and retirement. Over the past few decades, changes in social policy have been introduced which are directed towards “social investment” and empowering citizens rather than protecting them. The social investment model focuses on investing public money and time in social programs such as housing, healthcare, employment insurance, child benefits and education with an eye to providing all citizens with opportunities that will enable them to take responsibility for themselves and their families. In practice, social investment targets marginalized peoples because they are the ones who are believed to benefit the most from small investments in their human capital and are the least likely to generate their own human capital investment. Public funds for social investment are raised through progressive taxation that has the double effect of generating funds for investing in marginal peoples and having a redistributive effect

Issues of Cost & Access in Canada’s Early Childhood Education System: Lessons for the Civil Justice System

In recent years in Canada, there has been growing appreciation that early childhood education (ECE) is a basic foundation for building a successful education system, competitive global economy, and a well functioning democracy. A policy of publicly funding ECE programming is, in other words, seen as a smart investment in the future. This new appreciation of ECE is evident from the fact that ECE is now integrated into our school system and early childhood educators are recognized as trained professionals, not mere childcare workers. ECE policies in Ontario are now a model of evidence-based decision-making. Early learning initiatives such as full-day kindergartens and seamless days are based on new innovative research on child development that shows the long term benefits of skills such as early literacy and self-regulation for young children. ECE is also an effective compensatory vehicle for children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds

Design and Conduct of the Cost of Justice Survey

The “Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada” survey (“CoJ survey”) 1 is a national everyday legal problems survey carried out as part of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice’s Cost of Justice project (CFCJ). 2 The CoJ survey was conducted by the Institute for Social Research (ISR), York University, on behalf of the CFCJ, between September 2013 and May 2014. The 3,051 main study interviews were completed with randomly selected adults from randomly selected households over land line telephones. An additional set of 212 cell phone interviews were also conducted (discussed further below). The interviews averaged just over 21 minutes in length and the response rate was 42%. This technical report briefly outlines the design and conduct of the survey

Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada: Survey

The Cost of Justice project (2011-2017) examines the social and economic costs of Canada’s justice system. It is guided by two questions: What is the cost of delivering access to justice? And what is the cost of not delivering access to justice? Comprised of leading researchers investigating various dimensions of access to justice and cost across the country, the Cost of Justice project is producing empirical data that will inform the future of access to justice in Canada and abroad. The lead research team includes: Trevor C.W. Farrow (Principal Investigator), Nicole Aylwin, Les Jacobs, Lisa Moore, and Diana Lowe