On October 31st, OJEN (Ontario Justice Education Network), CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario), and the Law Society of Ontario presented a day-long conference as part of Ontario’s 4thannual Access to Justice Week. Widening the Circle: Public Legal Education and Access to Justice, addressed current and emerging topics in public legal education and information.
In his opening remarks, LSO Bencher, Paul Cooper stated, “Access to Justice Week is our opportunity to bring together a diverse set of leaders from every corner of the legal profession to talk about some of the pressing issues facing our sector”.
Lawyers, paralegals, community workers and a wide range of justice sector stakeholders from every province in Canada and two of three territories came together to explore critical issues regarding how the public accesses legal services. As well as the 95 participants who attended in person in the Donald Lamont Learning Centre, Osgoode Hall, 450 people registered for the webcast.
The conference featured experts in public legal education who spoke on the role of public legal education in access to justice. Topics included the role of community workers in helping clients with legal matters, options for providing real-time responses to public inquiries about legal issues, delivering meaningful territorial acknowledgements, and much more.
In her closing remarks, CLEO Executive Director, Julie Mathews, thanked participants for their willingness to engage in the wide ranging conversation on difficult topics, which had yielded many interesting ideas.
For more information on Access to justice Week 2019, go here.