Overview of Recent Activities and Achievements - August 2003
Table of Contents

MAKING THE JUSTICE SYSTEM MORE ACCESSIBLE

Support Initiative for Access to Justice in both Official Languages

As part of the implementation of the Government of Canada's action plan for official languages, the Department of Justice has created the Support Fund for access to justice in both official languages. The support fund has three categories: partnerships, the creation of a consultation mechanism and linguistic rights.

The partnerships element will allow the Department of Justice to support projects aimed at improving access to the justice system for all Canadians in either official language. Partners from within government, including at the provincial and territorial level, as well as non-governmental organizations, will assist in this effort. The Department will supply core financing to the Fédération des associations de juristes d'expression française and to the seven provincial associations, which are part of the Federation.

The Department will also create a consultation mechanism for minority official language communities in order to better understand their needs and take them into account in policy and program development.

In 2002, the Department created a federal-provincial-territorial Working Group on access to justice in both official languages in which Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Yukon and Nunavut are participants.

The linguistic rights component of the Support Fund includes training on linguistic rights for the Department's legal counsel and developing tools for their use. A study untitled L'État des lieux sur la situation de l'accès à la justice dans les deux langues officielles, sponsored and published by the Department in 2002, as well as other studies, served as references for the establishment of these measures.