Is “Physical” Access to Justice Attainable?
If you’ve ever been to 47 Sheppard Avenue East, you’ll know the point of this article well before I reach it. 47 Sheppard is a Toronto courthouse primarily used for small claims matters, a location I first entered as a wide-eyed caseworker starting the Parkdale intensive. The building is ominous and grey, accessible only from a side entrance, with no reception desk, and the type of parking lot that makes you wish you took public transit. Despite trafficking thousands of lawyers, judges, officials, and individuals every day, 47 Sheppard is, without doubt, one of the least accessible buildings in the city.
Walking in for the first time, I was immediately lost. I went to a counter on the right hand side of the lobby and asked for the floor where employment matters were heard. I was told to ask at the room across the hall, where it was suggested to me that I return to the counter I had just visited. Fortunately, I gave up on asking and managed to find my way to my peers. In subsequent visits, I’ve become slightly more comfortable moving around the courthouse, but have remained shocked by how difficult the building is to access and navigate.
That being said, the Court’s mission has been just the opposite. Those operating the Court understand that 47 Sheppard is the “people’s court,” a location for individuals of all backgrounds and circumstances to seek justice on an even footing. The Court has taken important steps to improve accessibility: labelling floors, posting signs, and hiring friendly and supportive staff. Unfortunately, in the overall sea of chaos, these steps are like pebbles in a river. The reality of 47 Sheppard is that it is cold, confusing, and difficult to navigate. Unfortunately, my experience in other city courts has not varied, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to hear that other Canadian courthouses are similar, if not worse.
What does this mean for court users? For the lawyers and judges, not much. The elites of the legal system, lawyers and judges using the courts have the freedom to move about, check in on courtrooms, and speak to court officials as they wish. They do not risk being reprimanded for walking into the courtroom too early, or embarrassed by a court official if they ask a silly question. Working at Parkdale, I can say unabashedly that I found dealing with the courts as confusing as anyone. The difference for me, and for the lawyers I’ve seen, is that navigating through that confusion is, at least, manageable.
For the individual, the physical experience of going to court seems much worse. At 47 Sheppard, I watched confused and frustrated clients wander aimlessly until their lawyer came to collect them. For self-representing individuals, the experience looked even more difficult, going from courtroom to courtroom to read the list of hearings, trying to spot their name and some indication of when their matter would be heard. It is a humiliating experience that leaves individuals utterly dependent, and places highly personal and sensitive matters into a dehumanized and unsympathetic environment.
Access to Justice, for the legal community, continues to revolve around pumping infinite amounts of legal information into the public domain, and using technology to make that information easier to read and understand. This is a complicated mission, but perhaps it’s no surprise lawyers have chosen to focus on it over the relatively simpler, yet more embarrassing, task of admitting the basic flaws with the buildings where “law” is supposed to happen.
And here lies the point of this article, a point so self-evident that it will make any 47 Sheppard user roll their eyes in exacerbation. If you can’t physically access the space where the legal system operates, you can’t really access “justice” either! The possibilities of good legal education, strong legal aid systems, and feasible legal technologies all mean nothing if, when the day comes, you can’t even find the courtroom where your hearing is taking place. It’s well past time for lawyers, judges, and officials (who, like me, complain behind the scenes about the confusing courthouses all the time!) to publicly acknowledge this problem and take immediate, foundational steps to resolve it.
Improving physical access to justice will take a concerted effort on the part of governments and the provincial law societies. Every courthouse should be equipped with a “Help Desk” right at the entrance to guide individuals and answer questions. Effort needs to be made to install signage which clearly points individuals to services (such as duty council, family services, and youth services) available in the courthouse. Lastly, every court should post each day’s matters on a screen in a central location, as is done in most public buildings, so that all court users can quickly verify when and where their matter will be heard.
For law students, and those entering the profession, I believe that what’s most important is an attitudinal change. The confusion of going to court is not a passing annoyance to be laughed about over drinks with the other lawyers. It is an embarrassment and affront to the system and the profession, and should be treated as such. We should not be apathetic to an obvious problem, one which has such a substantial effect on already disadvantaged individuals, and is so relatively simple to address. The lawyer is not there to babysit their client, and lawyers everywhere should be ashamed when the court system requires them to take on that role. As we enter the profession, it will be our responsibility to demand for ourselves, and for our clients, improvements to the courtroom experience.
The physical experience of going to court should be the least difficult part of a legal situation. It should be the location where our government helps disputing individuals by putting them in a fair and neutral setting to resolve their problem. A legal situation is often difficult enough itself; the court should be the place to restore order, not add to the difficulty. As future lawyers, we need to reject apathy, hold courts to a high standard, and not settle when they fall below it. Physical access to justice is just as important as any other element, and it’s time we bring it out of the background, and into the forefront.