2.5 Seamless Access to Justice in French Pilot Project
Pilot project in Ottawa
| Year | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Issue | Lack of access to justice in French |
| Impact following FLSC’s intervention | Launch of the Seamless Access to Justice in French Pilot Project in Ottawa |
| Current status | Evaluation of the pilot project’s impacts in progress |
The Commissioner has reiterated many times that the Ministry of the Attorney General has to stop finding specific justifications for problems experienced by individuals. In other words, it has to stop looking at things on a case-by-case basis and start looking at the big picture and seeking systemic solutions.
As the issue of lack of access to justice in French has been brought to the attention of the Commissioner’s Office through complaints received over the years since its establishment, the Commissioner recommended in 2014 that as proposed by the Steering Committee, a pilot project should be implemented to improve access to justice in French.26
Effectiveness of the intervention
In his recommendation, the Commissioner wanted to make the pilot project a laboratory for the development and testing of measures to provide Francophones with holistic access to justice. He also wanted to make other regions of Ontario aware of these promising practices when their effectiveness was confirmed.
The Ministry of the Attorney General finally approved the implementation of the Seamless Access to Justice in French Pilot Project in 2014. It was officially launched the following year at the Ottawa Courthouse.27
This initiative has shown that it is possible to enhance access to justice in French with concrete actions, as since then, complaints about the courts in Ottawa have decreased.
The pilot project ended in November 2016, and an evaluation is under way. A report will follow. It will be critical to make the evaluation report public and ensure that appropriate action is taken to make the changes at the Ottawa Courthouse permanent. Furthermore, other courthouses in the province also need to benefit promptly from the useful initiatives implemented in Ottawa.
Recommendation 4
The Commissioner recommends that the Attorney General of Ontario:
(a) make the evaluation of the Seamless Access to Justice in French Pilot Project in Ottawa public without delay, carry out the necessary follow-up to make the initiatives at the Ottawa Courthouse permanent, and apply this model promptly in other parts of Ontario to improve access to justice in French;
(b) instruct the advisory committee on access to justice in French to develop an implementation schedule to carry out all follow-ups to the Pilot Project.
26. Office of the French Language Services Commissioner, Annual Report 2013-2014: Rooting for Francophones, Toronto, p. 30.
27. For more details, see https://news.ontario.ca/mag/en/2015/05/ontario-launches-pilot-to-strengthen-access-to-justice-in-french.html (page consulted in March 2017).