OJEN has partnered with Calibrate Solutions to undertake a small research project funded by Justice Canada that looks at the access to justice needs of young Black adults. The project is part of a national survey gathering qualitative data on the experiences of minority populations with serious legal problems.
Throughout July and August, small focus groups of young adults between the ages of 16 and 30 will meet with our research team through video conference. They will discuss the types of legal problems they have encountered, the ways in which they attempted to resolve them, the results of their efforts and the economic and health impacts these problems have had on their lives. We will be interviewing between 25 and 30 young people in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area.
OJEN is also developing follow-up public legal education workshops for the focus group participants, as well as the staff and clients of the community partners who helped us recruit participants for this research project. In these free, online public legal education workshops, OJEN staff will share information, resources and strategies on how to navigate some of the most common legal problems discussed in the focus groups.
Access to justice is a significant issue facing middle- and low-income Canadians. Almost half of all adult Canadians experience at least one serious problem with a legal dimension within a three years period. Information collected through this survey will be used by Justice Canada to develop access to justice strategies for minority communities in Canada.
Results of the research project will be published on OJEN’s website in December of 2020.