“There’s no justice without access to justice.”

In her recent keynote address at U of T’s Access to Civil Justice for Middle Income Canadians Colloquium, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada called access to justice “an issue dear to my heart. It’s a fundamental right, not an accessory.”

“Do we have adequate access to justice?” she asked. “It seems to me that the answer is, no. We have wonderful justice for corporations and for the wealthy. But the middle-class and the poor may not be able to access our justice system.”

For her complete speech and a number of pertinent links, read this informative article by Lucianna Ciccocioppo at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law site.