New Resources
SmallClaimsBC.ca
Currently, SmallClaimsBC.ca provides an introduction to the Small Claims Pilot, which aims to ensure faster and earlier solutions to small claims cases.
The website will be updated on August 31 to feature information relevant to all British Columbians headed to Small Claims Court. Three new videos will be produced - on the small claims process, settlement conferences and collecting awards - and many checklists will be created.
The site’s current videos explain summary and simplified trials, mediations, trials and trial conferences. The site also provides access to all Small Claims Court forms and a video on how to complete them.
We Can Global Website
The Justice Education Society (JES) is now developing a new website for the We Can End Violence Against Women global campaign.
As an active coalition member of the BC campaign, the Society developed WeCanBC.ca. The global campaign’s new website will be WeCanGlobal.org. It will include information, news and events for the global movement as well as national campaigns. It will also integrate an international Facebook campaign.
The website will be launched during this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Stay tuned for more information.
Justice Through Knowledge: A New Vision for Public Legal Education in Vietnam
Shot entirely in Vietnam, this documentary follows a delegation of Canadian and Vietnamese experts as they apply a model for developing public legal education. Viewers are invited into conversations about legal rights and obligations with women, farmers, and local community leaders and learn how public legal education can lead to justice through knowledge. It is available in English and Vietnamese and available for purchase for $20. It can also be viewed free online.
New Programs
Civil and Family Justice Committee
Rick Craig, executive director of JES, is a member of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil & Family Matters. The committee is comprised of justice system personnel throughout Canada and chaired by The Honourable Thomas A. Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Rick will be chairing a working group on public legal education (PLE) triage and referral, which will examine best practices across Canada in developing PLE.
British Columbia is also represented on the committee by Mark Benton, QC, who is the executive director of the Legal Services Society, as well as Jerry McHale, QC, who is the assistant deputy minister with the Justice Services Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General. Both Benton and McHale chair other subcommittees.
Updates from the committee will be published in Justice In Our Times.
Events
Art in the Court
This year’s additions to Art in the Court were unveiled on June 14 at the Robson Square Courthouse in Vancouver. 34 pieces of art were contributed by students from 14 Vancouver secondary schools and two alternative programs.
Art in the Court is an ongoing partnership between JES, Vancouver School Board, and Robson Square Provincial Court that improves the atmosphere of the courthouse. The pieces of art were professionally framed by Hambleton Fine Arts Services and a grant from the City of Vancouver to honour its anniversary was instrumental in covering these costs.
In addition, King George Secondary School student Jacky Ngai was honoured by having his acrylic representation of the Vancouver Art Biennale’s blue trees chosen as the feature artistic work. I Can See the River Now was selected based on exceptional technical and aesthetic value.
The evening was emceed by The Honourable Judge Pedro L.J. de Couto, who is president of JES. Powerful speeches were delivered to students, parents, and special guests by Dr. Val Overgaard and Mr. Steve Cardwell from the Vancouver Board of Education, and The Honourable Judge Patrick Chen.
Judge Chen’s remarks at the reception were particularly impactful. Following is an excerpt, reprinted with his permission.
“You know, there is a link between art and the law, that is not always appreciated and often taken for granted. We are fortunate to live in a country where all citizens enjoy individual rights and freedoms and where access to those rights and freedoms is enforced by a free and independent judiciary, operating in a system of justice based on the rule of law.
I think we sometimes forget and fail to appreciate that it wasn’t always like this. The rights and freedoms which most of us now take for granted have evolved over a very long time. In the long history of mankind, these rights and freedoms are recent and have existed for only a remarkably short time. Even today, when you look at all the countries around the world, these rights and freedoms are enjoyed by only a very small minority of the world’s people.
I don’t know if you know this, but one of China’s leading artists – one of the designers of the famous “bird’s nest” stadium built for the Beijing Olympics - was recently arrested after producing works critical of the corruption in his country. He has been imprisoned and held without bail or trial for months now. In fact, artists in many countries where the rights and freedoms we enjoy do not exist, are persecuted for using their art to express thoughts, beliefs and opinions critical of the state.
Art does not exist in a vacuum. Creative energy and original thought flourish in an environment of freedom and individual rights. Your right to freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression is a fundamental right, guaranteed under our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In Canada, we have a society that values creativity and original works, and a legal system that protects, nurtures and rewards them through the concept of intellectual property…
… You young students stand at the cusp of blazing your own trail through life, but I want you to know that you have already made a good start on your life journey. You have already made a difference. This courthouse is a better place because of your talent and your contribution, and for that you have my heartfelt appreciation and that of our entire judiciary. Thank you so much.”
Resource Updates
Annual Report
The Society’s 2010-2011 Annual Report is in production and will be published in August. Email kevin.smith(at)JusticeEducation.ca to receive a copy.
International Newsletter
The JES International Program’s newsletter will be emailed next week. You can email kevin.smith(at)JusticeEducation.ca to subscribe.
Resource of the Month
Your Human Rights in BC is a series of five videos – available in English, Mandarin and Punjabi - that teaches immigrants about human rights in BC and Canada. In the videos, workshop participants get answers to their questions about discrimination and learn more about their human rights.
Website of the Month
KidsBC.ca is an animated, highly interactive website designed to help BC kids experiencing parental divorce or separation. The virtual world of “Changeville” provides a range of information and activities for children aged 6-12 to explore alone or with one or both parents.
Program Updates
We Can BC in the News
Natalie Hill, a summer student with We Can BC, wrote a moving editorial in the Globe and Mail about her classmate Rumana Monzur, who was allegedly attacked by her husband in her home country of Bangladesh while on a break from her studies at UBC.
Court Information Program for Immigrants
On July 6, Binh Luong, the Court Information Program for Immigrant’s (CIPI) Chinese and Vietnamese court worker, delivered an information session for 40 Korean new immigrants. The audience, which included some families, learned about BC’s courts, the CIPI program, and the JES.
Binh will be delivering another session for Mandarin-speaking immigrants on September 8 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm at the Burnaby Public Library (1st floor program room, 6100 Willingdon Ave.). The session will cover general legal information and Small Claims Court.
Staff News
JES is sad to announce the departure of three employees: Joan Brett, Heather Nyberg, and Glenn McArthur. The impact these individuals made on the Society will be felt for many years.
Francisco Del Castillo has been warmly welcomed to JES as its new Senior International Accountant.