ACCESS TO JUSTICE

PRESENTED AND SPONSORED BY:

Access to Justice

How does the law impact current global events?

Access to Justice is a contest open to all ateendees that is held annually alongside the YLL national conference. Each year, a prompt related to a current, prominent sociopolitical event is released. Participants have the opportunity to submit an interpretive entry of the prompt in any form of expression that they wish, whether it be an art piece, a research article, etc. We encourage entries to be investigative and to consider the impact of the law in relation to the prompt. Entries will then be judged by a panel of lawyers from Calgary Family Law Associates for a chance to win cash prizes.

This year, ATJ will be held synchronously across all branches of YLL. Details for the 2022 prompt and contest guidelines will be released soon!

PREVIOUS YEARS OF THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE CONTEST

ATJ 2021: Systemic Racism and Access to Justice

Canada’s access to civil justice has been ranked ninth out of 12 European and North American countries. We still have a long way to go in many aspects. Canada’s Department of Justice released a report in 2019 that shares the four biggest problems regarding access to justice: underreporting due to scared victims, trial delays, bad treatment within the system, and the lack of affordable and timely support/resources.

According to a 2019 study done by the Canada Race Relations Foundation, Indigenous Peoples and Black people are the most common targets of discrimination and unfair treatment in Canada, followed by Muslims and people from the Middle East.

This discrimination may mean that people have less access to some services, such as healthcare, jobs, and justice.

This year, Youth Leaders In Law wants your submissions for the following prompt: How does systemic racism impact an individual’s ability to access justice?

Access to Justice Competition 2021 Winners

First Place ($300 CAD): Aiden Cheung and Emily Gossen of John Knox Secondary, British Columbia

Second Place ($150 CAD): Rojina Haji-Mahmoodzadeh of Centennial Secondary, British Columbia AND Madison Bailey of Crescent Heights High School, Alberta

Third Place ($50 CAD): Diya Mehta of University of Toronto Schools, Ontario AND Graciela Licardo of Old Scona Academic, Alberta

The Access to Justice contest is held annually by Calgary Family Law Associates. YLL extends it gratitude to CLFA for judging the event and acting as our national sponsor!