People were frustrated by long wait times and legal jargon
British Columbia residents are struggling to access public legal education and information, according to the "Flourishing: A Plan to Strengthen Public Legal Education and Information" report published by Allard Law.
Residents reported that they were frustrated with long wait times and legal jargon, even though useful and accurate legal resources were available through legal information hotlines and websites. The study also revealed that there was a lack of resources targeted towards the legal needs of Indigenous people and communities, as per a collaboration with the BC First Nations Justice Council.
"People reported being referred over and over and over again, but never to a place that could actually help them. In every focus group, we had people crying as they recounted the different parts of their journey. It’s really disheartening," said Dr. Catherine Dauvergne, the study's academic lead, in a statement.
The report presented 30 recommendations to bolster legal support for BC residents, including the establishment of a dedicated phone line for wayfinding and legal triage and of a central hub organization to collate research. The report also suggested increasing hiring and support for frontline legal information providers that may not necessarily have undergone formal legal training.
"We learned a great deal about what it’s like to be the only person in a small community in the north of the province who is available to answer legal questions," Dauvergne said in a statement, noting that it could be "isolating and hard to know if you're right."
Another recommendation was to share best practices and enhance collaboration across the free-legal-resource ecosystem. The report also suggested providing funding to and working with the BC First Nations Justice Council to boost its ability to develop and co-develop resources.
"This support is a really important piece of the access to justice puzzle. It’s not going to solve the access to justice crisis, but our recommendations can make a contribution to reducing the amount of frustration, emotional drain and time that takes people to resolve their legal issues. There's all sorts of evidence that the longer people have a legal problem, the more that flows into other aspects of life," Dauvergne said. "If we repeated this work five years from now, I’d like to see people getting help faster, feeling less frustrated and more confident that they know where to go for help."
The report showed that the public did appreciate frontline legal workers; in addition, staff from newly launched Indigenous Justice Centres said that their work was "overwhelmingly positive."
Project director Aara Johnson added that BC was currently unique in its provision of legal education and information to the public.
"In speaking with individuals in Canada, Australia, the UK and the US, many say that BC is more innovative. These recommendations will strengthen what is already seen as a rich ecosystem of resources," Johnson said.
The "Flourishing: A Plan to Strengthen Public Legal Education and Information" report was financed by the Law Foundation of British Columbia. The Law Foundation co-sponsored the 18-month study with the BC Ministry of the Attorney General.
Allard Law students operate the AskJES legal information hotline. The People's Law School website provides guides on legal topics like crafting a will.
