The Connecting Report/
Linguistic & Rural Access to Justice Project


In January, 2009, The Law Foundation of Ontario released the report “Connecting Across Language and Distance: Linguistic and Rural Access to Legal Information and Services” [ the Connecting Report ] which described significant barriers to access to legal information and services for people who do not speak English or French and people living in rural or remote areas and made recommendations for improving linguistic and rural access to justice. The LFO is actively considering all the recommendations contained in this report.

It has implemented the Connecting Report’s recommendation that it fund Articling Fellowships to provide legal information and services to linguistic minorities and residents of rural and remote communities. It awarded eleven Connecting Articling Fellowships to community legal clinics and Legal Aid Ontario for the 2010 articling year, and has now extended the program to the 2011 articling year.

In addition, the Connecting Report recommended the creation of a Connecting Consortium of legal and non-legal organizations that would improve the ability of non-legal organizations to provide basic legal information and referral to their clients. The LFO has funded CLEO to develop an organizational model for such a consortium based on a collaborative, community partnership-building approach. It has asked CLEO to report back with a proposed model for consideration by November, 2009.

The LFO is also supporting the creation of a Connecting Region where a consortium of legal and non-legal organizations work together to develop a coherent system for the delivery of legal information, referrals and services to linguistic minorities and/or residents of rural or remote areas. The LFO is currently accepting applications for candidates for the Connecting Region.

For further information on the Connecting Report, see Background and Summary of the Report.


Contact:
Tanya Lee
Project Director,
Linguistic and Rural Access to Justice Project
416-598-1550 ext. 318
tlee@lawfoundation.on.ca