Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell Leads Access to Justice Initiative

The most recent issue of The Lawyers Weekly features an article on an access to justice initiative being led by Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell:

"Since 2010, the soft-spoken Supreme Court of Canada judge from Nova Scotia has spent many of his waking 'off' hours spearheading a low-profile, but highly ambitious, national project to slay (or at least tame) the beast besetting justice in Canada and other western nations: the general unaffordability of professional legal services."

"As chair of the national Action Committee on Access to Civil and Family Justice, Justice Cromwell oversees an ad hoc group broadly representative of the legal community across Canada, including judges, the organized Bar, legal regulators, legal aid plans, pro bono plans, court administrators, academics, and the deputy justice ministers for Alberta and Canada (...)"

"The impetus for this unprecedented national initiative to improve 'access to justice' came four years ago from Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, who raised a red flag about middle-income Canadians’ inability to afford lawyers."

Access to justice was an issue much in evidence at the recent annual meeting of the Canadian Bar Association that took place earlier this month in Vancouver as can be seen in a number of resolutions passed:

• Access to Justice − Tax
• Improving Access to Justice through Legal Expense Insurance
• Criminal Legal Aid Review