2.4 Protocol with the Law Society of Upper Canada

Law Society of Upper Canada

The Law Society of Upper Canada regulates the activities of lawyers and paralegals in Ontario. It is a professional body whose aim is to protect the public by ensuring that Ontario’s legal professionals meet required standards of professional conduct and competence.

Since its establishment, the Commissioner’s Office has received a very large number of complaints about the Law Society. The complaints vary widely in subject matter: distribution of English-only information to members, insufficient availability of professional development courses in French, and imbalance in the workload associated with the French-language bar examination.

The Law Society introduced the Law Practice Program (LPP)/ Programme de pratique du droit (PPD) in 2014.²¹ The Office of the Commissioner congratulates the Law Society for extending the LPP for another 2 years. In fact, the Commissioner encourages the Law Society to maintain it permanently.

As complaints about the Law Society kept coming in to the Commissioner’s Office and since there was a difference of opinion between the two organizations on the Commissioner’s authority to deal with complaints, it was necessary to agree on a protocol for the handling of complaints about the Law Society.

Effectiveness of the intervention

In October 2014, the Law Society of Upper Canada and the Commissioner’s Office signed a protocol on complaint resolution.²²

The protocol lists the terms and conditions under which the Commissioner’s Office may refer complaints to the Law Society for investigation. It also details the process by which complaints will be investigated, which will promote equitable access to services in French to the Francophone community. The Law Society acknowledges that persons have the right to communicate with it in French and receive available services from it in French.²³

This agreement has led to notable improvements, including the Law Society’s adoption of a French Language Services Policy²⁴ in January 2015. The French version of the Law Society’s website, telephone service in French and other issues that resulted in complaints have been improved since then. The Law Society has also added a Francophone member to the editorial board of the Ontario Reports journal. The recent arrival of Professor François Larocque will increase the publication of relevant case law in French.

The above changes illustrate the Law Society’s desire to enhance access to justice in French in Ontario. A few months after the conference on the 30th anniversary of the French Language Services Act,²⁵ the Commissioner’s Office and the Law Society agreed to continue with the original protocol. Since the protocol sets a precedent for other professional bodies, the Commissioner’s continues to promote its benefits.

21. This program was designed entirely in conjunction with the University of Ottawa, based on the specific needs of the Franco-Ontarian community.

25. For more details, see https://commonlaw.uottawa.ca/fr/events/lsf30 (in French only) (page consulted in March 2017).