The establishment of the Saskatchewan Access to Justice Week is a spinoff of the “Putting the Public First” topic that was addressed by participants at the 2016 meeting of the Dean’s Forum on Access to Justice and Dispute Resolution (the Dean’s Forum) – participants at that meeting identified, “a provincial strategy must embrace multiple vehicles and approaches to engagement to ensure that different communities within the public, each who face diverse access to justice barriers are both engaged and meaningfully heard” (at 5).

The Saskatchewan Access to Justice Week is one vehicle and approach to engage different communities in the access to justice conversation. 

The week will provide opportunities to:

  • Engage new and diverse voices in the access to justice conversation; and
  • Highlight initiatives that aim to improve access to justice for Saskatchewan residents. 

This year, Saskatchewan is collaborating with local and national partners to co-host A2J Week events aimed at engaging both justice stakeholders and the public at large. We invite you to get involved in the events, and join the conversation!

Events

Global Week for Justice (Registration required)

The Department of Justice Canada is co-hosting in concert with the OECD, Pathfinders, and the Open Government Partnership, the Global Week for Justice. The Global Week for Justice, taking place the week before Saskatchewan’s Access to Justice Week, offers “a series of dialogues, brainstorms, and round tables to advance [the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)] 16’s call to ensure equal access to justice for all” and “will comprise a series of events tied to SDG 16, organized by different justice partners”.

National Event

Unbundled Legal Services in Canada: Lawyer and Client Feedback with John-Paul Boyd, Lisa Eisen, and Sonali Sharma (Registration required)

Cost is a significant factor for people trying to access legal services. Unbundling legal services can be a cost effective and efficient alternative for people looking for legal help. The goal of this webinar is to encourage lawyers to offer unbundled services, and for the public to learn more about how these services work. Tune in to hear presenters from British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta speak about client and lawyer feedback, and to ask your questions about unbundled services.

 

Launch of Shift Project

  • Time: 9 am
  • Location: Visit shift.plea.org - https://shift.plea.org/ 
  • Target Audience: Anyone who has experienced workplace sexual harassment or is interested in learning more about this topic including the options and remedies that are available.
  • Contributors: Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan with funding from the Department of Justice Canada

National Event: A Conversation about Access to Justice and Systemic Racism with Trevor Farrow and Joshua Sealy-Harrington, moderated by Dean Barbara Billing (Registration required)

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments, non-profit organizations and other justice sector stakeholders in Canada to innovate. As their focus shifts from short term survival to rebuilding for a post-COVID world, how can they best contribute to creating a more just society?

Trevor Farrow has carried out ground-breaking research on the costs that society incurs when Canadians cannot access justice. Joshua Sealy-Harrington’s research and practice explores how the justice system systemically marginalizes racialized Canadians. Hear them together in conversation with the University of Alberta Faculty of Law's new dean, Barbara Billingsley, as they discuss what access to justice means, how best to promote it in a post-COVID world, and what role law schools can play in creating a more just society.

 

Doing Your Own Legal Research, with Alan Kilpatrick

Doing your own legal research for a court case can be intimidating, especially if you have no formal legal training. However, there is help out there for people wanting to represent themselves. Join reference librarian Alan Kilpatrick from the Law Society of Saskatchewan Library to learn about CanLII, a free legal service that can be accessed by anyone via the Internet. The presentation contains federal and provincial case law, legislation, and more.

Time: 6:00-7:00pm CST
Location: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83186274936?pwd=Q0c4aW5INnVWL2RYV1NhN3ZMRUdDdz09
Target Audience: Members of the public, self-represented litigants, legal researchers
Contributors: Law Society of Saskatchewan Library

National Event

Exploring Community Justice Help to Advance Community-based Access to Justice with Julie Mathews and David Wiseman (Registration required)

This session will provide an overview of and seek feedback on a recent report, “Community Justice Help: Advancing Community-Based Access to Justice”, released by Community Legal Education Ontario. 

Authoured by Julie Mathews (CLEO) and David Wiseman (uOttawa), the report proposes a new approach for enabling community workers (as non-lawyers) to provide assistance for law-related problems. The report puts forward a three-part framework for supporting, rather than discouraging, “community justice help”, and in so doing enabling community workers to play a role in advancing access to justice.

Welcoming participants from all provinces, this session will look beyond Ontario to explore the extent to which community justice help is available in other Canadian jurisdictions and the extent to which it is enabled and supported by local regulators both at present and through emerging initiatives.

A report will be followed by participants discussions.

  • Time: 10:30am-11:30am CST
  • Location: Webcast, link to follow
  • Registration Details: https://lawsociety.forms-db.com/view.php?id=252065
  • Contributors: The Law Society of Ontario and Canada A2J Week Organizers
  • Approved for 1 CPD Ethics Hour by the Law Society of Saskatchewan

A Panel on Technology and Access to Justice: New technological development in the law with Andrew Arruda, Alex Don, and Craig Zawada (Registration required)

Join us for a panel of 3 speakers who will talk about artificial intelligence, virtual access to justice in remote areas, and how the courts have adapted with changes in technology. The purpose of the panel is to explore several new topics that significantly affect the practice of law as well as how they affect access to justice. We will also explore issues affecting access to justice today that can be allayed through technology. Come and listen and make sure you prepare a question or two!

 

Launch of 2019-2020 Rehabilitative Alternatives to Incarceration Handbook

  • Time: 9am CST
  • Location: FREE download available from CLASSIC’s website and the Indigenous Law Centre’s website
  • Target audience: defence counsel, judges, probation officers, parole offices, and anyone else wishing to identify alternative, rehabilitative programming for their clients.
  • Contributors: written by CLASSIC, published by the Indigenous Law Centre.

Enough Already: Bystander Training 101 with Nicole White (Registration required)

This webinar will give you a primer on the new provincial project, Enough Already, and teach you tangible skills when addressing sexual harassment in the workplace.

  • Time: 12:00-1:00 pm CST
  • Location: Webcast, link to follow
  • Target Audience: Law students
  • Registration Details: Please email info@enoughalreadysk.ca and write, 'ATJW: Bystander Training' in the subject line
  • Contributors: Enough Already SK
  • Approved for 1 CPD Ethics Hour by the Law Society of Saskatchewan

Join the conversation

We want to hear from you!  Share your access to justice ideas, work, announcements, photos, reports on social media using the hashtag #SKA2J2020. 

To view full coverage of the fifth annual Access to Justice Week, follow the Law Society of Saskatchewan’s Blog, Legal Sourcery at lsslib.wordpress.com/category/access-to-justice. 

** This event may qualify for CPD credits for lawyers.
*** Note that events and speakers are subject to change. Check this page often for current event information.

Past events