OCASI has launched an Access to Justice project in partnership with Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change (COP-COC), Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Rexdale Community Legal Clinic and South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario, as well as COP-COC.
The project has at its core the objective of increasing access to justice through meaningful engagement, capacity building, and the implementation of race-based data collection within the administrative tribunal system. Members of the Planning Committee, Advisory Committee and the Project Coordinator will work together to understand and address challenges faced by members of racialized communities as they navigate administrative tribunals.
The project goals are:
a) To advance access to justice for racialized Ontarians by identifying barriers to accessing tribunals and proposing policy and practice solutions to eliminate barriers;
b) Identifying good practices and resources from other jurisdictions that can improve access to tribunals.
The work will begin with a literature review to identify comparable undertakings, relevant reports, academic writings and administrative tribunal materials. A series of policy questions will be developed out of conversations with Planning Committee members and external stakeholders to determine the project’s primary areas of inquiry.
Interpretation of data collected during the lifetime of the project will be undertaken and findings will be shared in a final report. An implementation plan will be developed in partnership with stakeholder groups, paying close attention to institutional partners that have the capacity to act on results and ensure the sustainability of the implementation plan.
The project is expected to conclude by the fall of 2018. For more information, please contact Jalana Lewis, Project Coordinator jlewis@ocasi.org.