Legal Needs Assessment Projects Across Canada

The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice has drawn attention in recent days to a number of projects to evaluate the needs of Canadians when it comes to access to the justice system.

• Study on Self Represented Litigants in the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island
  (July 8, 2008)
• Mapping and Legal Needs Assessments Across Canada (July 11, 2008): looks at projects in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta

The objectives of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice are:

• collecting in a systematic way information relating to the system for administering civil justice;
• carrying out in-depth research on matters affecting the operation of the civil justice system;
• promoting the sharing of information about the use of best practices;
  functioning as a clearinghouse and library of information for the benefit of all persons in Canada concerned with civil justice;
• developing liaisons with similar organizations in other countries to foster exchanges of information across national borders; and
• taking a leadership role in providing information concerning civil justice reform initiatives and developing effective means of exchanging this information