Self-Represented Litigants Projects

Canadian Judicial Council Project on Self-Represented Litigants and Accused Persons
Alberta Self-Represented Litigants Access to Justice Mapping Project

Canadian Judicial Council Project on Self-Represented Litigants and Accused Persons

The Canadian Judicial Council Project on Self-Represented Litigants and Accused Persons assessed the nature and extent of challenges presented to trial and appeal courts across Canada by self-represented litigants and the unrepresented accused, and prepared a set of practical resources for Canadian judges and, with their input, court administrators. The Canadian Judicial Council selected Robert Hann and Associates and the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice to jointly undertake this project, which has led to the following publications:

Canadian Judicial Council Statement of Principles
An extensive annotated bibliography on self-represented litigants. The records in the annotated bibliography have been added to the Forum’s Civil Justice Clearinghouse.
National Judicial Institute Bench Book

Alberta Self-Represented Litigants Access to Justice Mapping Project

For the purposes of the Alberta Self-Represented Litigants Access to Justice Mapping Project (hereafter referred to as the Mapping Project), the term "self-represented litigants" (SRLs) is used to include anyone going to court without a lawyer in criminal, civil, or family matters. It is generally agreed that that the number of SRLs has increased significantly in the past decade and can be expected to continue doing so, and that work is required to both understand the reasons for the growth of SRLs and the needs of these individuals. The Mapping Project addressed service issues of concern to SRLs involved in family, civil and criminal matters and included the following specific objectives:

To meet with government and non-government service providers to determine the range of services and supports currently made available to SRLs.
To systematically record details about available services and facilitate the sharing of these details in a way that can increase accurate and effective referrals.
To examine patterns of referral and coordination among existing organizations providing legal and social support services to SRLs.
To identify and/or confirm the specific service needs of SRLs.
To determine problems and issues faced by SRLs in accessing services offered.
To analyze both SRL and service provider needs and perspectives on service to SRLs and what should be done to address service gaps, problems, and challenges in being self-represented.
To identify priority areas for service delivery to SRLs.
To gain a geographically specific and appropriate assessment of SRL needs and ways in which these can be effectively met.

"Mapping" research is essentially a form of needs assessment that acknowledges the existence of power differentials among stakeholders and aims to actively involve a representation of all those different viewpoints in creating the snapshot of the research issue. It takes a collaborative network approach to creating a picture of what exists and how it is experienced and is undertaken because at least some of the stakeholders involved have pre-identified a need for change. The involvement of community members in actively creating the research knowledge builds a sense of community ownership of the research findings. A sense of ownership encourages buy-in to recommendations concerning actions needed to bring about positive change.

The final report from the Mapping Project provides details of the background, rationale, objectives and methodology for this research. Project findings consider which people may be self-representing as well as reviewing the type, extent, demand, capacity, accessibility and other associated issues of current services available to SRLs. Unmet service needs are discussed on two main levels: 1) what can be done to enhance delivery of currently available services; and 2) what service gaps need to be filled and how this might be achieved. Special attention is paid to the role a self-help centre or kiosk could play in achieving improved SRL services.