Resources

Kristjana Kellgren

Elizabeth Aspinall

The quarterly publication of the Canadian Bar Association - Alberta Branch. Canada's International Obligations

By: Frank Friesacher

By Sandra Petersson

Access to justice demands not only that we consistently and adequately support legal aid, but that we do not deny a fair trial to vulnerable Albertans by failing those who cannot afford a lawyer but make too much money to qualify for legal representation under programs like Legal Aid Alberta.

Between 1883 and 1996, the Canadian Indian residential school system removed 150,000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit children1 from their homes, families, communities, and culture—often forcibly—in an effort to “civilize and Christianize” 2 Indigenous children by assimilating them into dominant society. This exposed a significant number of Indigenous children to poor living conditions as well as physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

The importance of a timely and effective legal system cannot be overemphasized. A well-developed and properly resourced justice system is critical to a healthy democracy. An inadequately resourced system results in significant delays and accessibility challenges.

A large percentage of Alberta’s population is affected by family law issues at some point in their lives, with respect to child support, spousal support, parenting arrangements, child protection, guardianship, and contact with a child.

CBA supports innovative and responsible approaches to justice, including specialized courts such as mental health, Indigenous, domestic violence and drug treatment courts. Drug Treatment Courts (DTCs) are pre-sentence treatment programs that try to rehabilitate non-violent offenders. DTCs divert offenders away from imprisonment on the condition they complete an intensive, judicially- supervised drug addiction recovery program.