• to complete its report on close personal relationships between adults, and
• to continue its work on the issues raised by aging of the population;

• to produce a discussion paper on the private and public dimensions of policing services,
• to distribute its research on law and communities, and
• to continue its work on restorative justice;

• to study the issue of security interests in relation to intellectual property, and
• to develop a research plan for studying the impact of changes in patterns of trade and employment on the law; and

• to stimulate critical thinking on law and democracy, and
• to study questions concerning Aboriginal governance.

Finally, the Commission pledged:

• by establishing networks of researchers.

These projects have been carried out. The following sections explain how they contribute to the strategic goals of both the Government of Canada and the Law Commission of Canada.

To participate in renewing the law is to participate in the country’s political and democratic life. The following projects provide three examples of ways in which the Law Commission has promoted citizens’ active involvement in its work and fostered critical debate.

i. Beyond Conjugality: Supporting Canadians’ ability to participate in renewing their law

Published during 2001, the Law Commission’s report, Beyond Conjugality: Recognizing and Supporting Close Personal Adult Relationships, questions the legal framework that has characterized our law until now. For a long time, Canadian law has defined close personal and interdependent relationships between adults based on concepts of conjugality and marriage.

The first part of the report suggests a methodological framework to help governments reconsider current policies and programs that use the concepts of conjugality or marriage in a way that limits the definition of adult relationships involving emotional or economic interdependence. The second part of the report deals with the legal framework for interpersonal relationships. In it, the Law Commission recommends the establishment of registration systems that will enable adults to register their relationship and to benefit from an easy and accessible legal framework that provides for a set of commitments. The Law Commission also recommends a new review of the heterosexual restrictions imposed on the legal concept of marriage.

In addition to its report, the Law Commission provided various activities that encouraged the public to reflect on the question of close personal adult relationships. Some scenarios were displayed on the Law Commission’s Internet site and inspired the creation of an interactive play that is now available for community groups interested in exploring the issue.

This project supported Canadians’ capacity to participate in reforming their law. At the same time, it raised issues relevant to the courts and to those responsible for making public policies.

Finally, the report suggests a more general approach to the recognition of close personal relationships between adults. It continues to stimulate critical debate and solicit citizens’ participation.

ii. Reforming Democratic Institutions: Creating tools accessible to the public

The decline in voter turnout and other measures of participation in the democratic process suggest that Canadians have less confidence in their government’s ability to satisfy their legitimate expectations than in the past. Conversely, political participation is a sign of social cohesiveness and vibrant communities. We must nurture our democratic institutions to ensure their efficiency and relevance.

As part of its work on the topic of reforming democratic institutions, the Law Commission created a background paper explaining the various electoral systems, to the general public, and a quiz on electoral reform, available on its Internet site.

iii. What is a Crime? Promoting the ability of youth to participate in public debate

Why do we consider certain behaviours criminal and not others? What are the legal, social and cultural factors that influence the decision as to whether or not to criminalize undesirable behaviours? Why do some behaviours seem to call for criminal sanctions, while others are considered matters of health, education or lifestyle?

The objective of the project “What is a Crime?” is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding our differing reactions to undesirable behaviours, including the repercussions for choosing various control mechanisms (i.e., the official legal process, regulatory codes, health and education programs, and decriminalization).

To promote the participation of youth in these public debates, the Commission launched a competition in Canadian high schools. The Roderick A. Macdonald Essay Competition invited young people to think about what behaviour should and should not be considered criminal, and to discuss the impact criminalization has on our society.

One of the Law Commission’s objectives is to promote multidisciplinary research, which is more suitable for examining complex problems. The following projects demonstrate the Law Commission’s commitment to stimulating a wide range of multidisciplinary research.

i. Leveraging Knowledge Assets: Setting up innovative partnerships and using new technologies

The nature of wealth has changed. While wealth used to be based on land and real property, and later on shares and securities, it is now driven by access to information. Has commercial law kept pace with such changes?

It is widely acknowledged that support for an innovation-based economy is increasingly necessary to compete in world economy. However, many feel that access to investment is difficult for businesses whose assets consist mostly of intellectual property. Problems may stem from uncertainties involved in the registration of security interests on such assets, as well as from approaches to valuation on the part of lenders. Is it possible to make some practical improvements to facilitate access to investment for information-based businesses? To what extent does the international nature of the new economy prevent or accelerate the need for law reform in this area?

In collaboration with the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario, the Law Commission hosted a conference on security interests in intellectual property in November 2001. The conference, entitled Leveraging Knowledge Assets, attracted economists, business leaders anxious to increase investments in their organizations and attorneys who advise on intellectual property issues. Video-conferencing allowed stakeholders in five Canadian cities to discuss problems of access to credit and investors’ concerns.

ii. Restorative Justice: Reflecting the law as it is lived

In addition to exploring restorative justice as an alternative method of applying criminal justice, the Law Commission is also examining its potential in other areas of law, such as family, labour and commercial law.

Over the past year, the Law Commission sponsored the following papers on new research methods, the practice of restorative justice and new perspectives:

• Aboriginal Restorative Justice Alternatives: Two Case Studies, by Joan Ryan and Brian Calliou;
  
  
• The Implications of Restorative Justice for Aboriginal Women and Children; Survivors of Violence: A Comparative Overview of Five Communities in British Columbia, by Wendy Stewart, Audrey Huntley and Fay Blaney; and
  
  
• Community Participation in Criminal Jury Trials and Restorative Justice Programs, by Gerry Ferguson.

Furthermore, researchers from different disciplines focused on the application restorative justice to criminal and civil law as follows:

• Exploring Transformative Justice in the Employment of Nurses: Toward Reconstructing Race Relations and the Dispute Process, by Rebecca Hagey, Lillie Lum, Robert MacKay, Jane Turrittin and Evelyn Brody;
  
  
• La Loi canadienne sur l’équité en emploi et la transformation des rapports sociaux : le cas des minorités visibles, by Lucie Lamarche and Francine Tougas;
  
  
• Cultural Change? Commercial Litigators and the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program, by Dr. Julie Macfarlane;
  
  
• Restorative Justice, Social Relationships and the Adjudication of Conflicts Arising from Complaints of Professional Misconduct and Harassment at Canadian Universities, by Augustine Brannigan, Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot and John A. Baker;
  
  
• Les modes non judiciaries de règlement des différends : nouveau rôle professionnel pour une meilleure justice? by Georges A. Legault and Louise Lalonde; and
  
  
• Les nouveaux modes de régulation et la protection des ressources et des milieux marins au Canada, by Paule Halley.

The Law Commission’s research and recommendations pool perspectives from many different disciplines with a view to making tangible changes in people’s lives.

iii. Fiduciary Relationships: Inviting an international perspective

The relationship between First Nations and the Crown reflects more than 500 years of complex interactions. The courts have defined such relationships as “fiduciary.”

However, for a large number of First Nations communities, affixing the “fiduciary” label has not clarified the mutual obligations of such relationships, nor has it created more trust, satisfaction or optimism.

A joint conference of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians (AIAI) and the Law Commission was held to shed light on the nature of this complex relationship, to examine the relevance of its premises and to propose a framework for the future.

Multidisciplinary research must also be conducted at the international level, since many of the problems encountered in Canada are also experienced in other countries. The Law Commission’s partnership on fiduciary relationships with the AIAI has made it possible to evaluate other countries’ perspectives on this issue.

The complex problems facing Canadian law often require a new approach and new concepts. All of the Law Commission’s projects are directed at developing new ways of thinking and consider current trends that are shaping our society.

i. In Search of Security: Taking social change into consideration

Even before the events of September 11, 2001, Canadians were concerned about security. In some segments of society, security is bought, like any consumer product. People buy detection and alarm systems, install security bars on windows, and even hire security guards to patrol their neighbourhoods.

The Law Commission’s discussion paper, entitled In Search of Security: The Roles of Public Police and Private Agencies, examines changes that have occurred in the delivery of security services to Canadians. It describes new security arrangements in Canada and the expanded use of police networks that consist of private as well as public security services.

This work provides a critical examination of the dangers and the advantages of privatization of security services. It raises a number of key questions aimed at helping to determine whether the new arrangements are an appropriate response to changes in our society.

ii. Marginalized Work: Questioning traditional legal classifications

Law plays an important role in determining the type of work that will be recognized, valued and rewarded or, conversely, devalued, ignored or prohibited. Does the law recognize a sufficiently broad range of work? On what basis does the law recognize and reward certain types of work or certain categories of workers, but not others? What are the legal and economic consequences of the lack of recognition for some types of work?

The concept of marginalized work is used in its broadest sense to describe various forms of employment that exist outside the mainstream. It includes part-time, irregular, transient and atypical jobs, such as those found in the fast-food industry and homemaking services, some forms of agricultural work, jobs paid “under the table,” and prostitution. The Law Commission’s projects on marginalized work seek to analyse why some types of work fall outside the law’s protection, examine the concept of self-employment and to determine the role of the law in ensuring adequate economic security for all types of workers.

iii. What is a Community? Reflecting new concepts of law

Increasingly, governments are turning to local communities for solutions to a variety of problems. Thus, we are seeing growing reliance on the role of communities in our law.

At the same time, the customary concepts of what constitutes a community are being called into question. Canadian society is becoming increasingly compartmentalized along lines of age, race, gender, nationality, culture, sexual orientation, interests and religion. There is also a growing sense of fragmentation in communities, territorially defined. What constitutes a community? How can different kinds of communities be recognized for legal purposes? Are new concepts of what constitutes a community just as viable as traditional ones for the administration of justice?

This research project illustrates the need for new concepts of law, or legal thematics. It questions and analyses existing concepts to propose new ideas that can better serve the needs of Canadian society.

Law that is relevant and effective and provides justice for all requires the involvement of citizens, a multidisciplinary approach to analysing problems and new concepts of law. The Law Commission engages Canadians in critical debate about the renewal of the law. It has developed an ambitious, multidisciplinary research plan responsive to concrete problems in Canadian law. It has also proposed new approaches to existing concepts of law as new socio-economic trends emerge. The Commission thus continues to fulfil the mandate set out in the Law Commission of Canada Act.