Part 2: Conclusion

1. Essential wrap-around and supportive services

The information in the table gives a selective snapshot indicating the range of support and services provided by not-for-profit organizations working on the ground in communities across Canada. The organizations support community members who are seeking housing, income assistance, safety planning for the future, permits or status to live and work or study in Canada, or have other needs. They support community members who face challenges or problems in these areas – for example, when they are facing eviction, when their application for EI has been denied, or when the process for applying for a work permit is complex.

Regardless of the sector in which they work or the particular communities served, most of the organizations in the table provide help in several areas. Notably, most organizations offer housing support and help with accessing income assistance or other benefits. This is not surprising – these are common needs of people living on lower incomes who turn to community organizations for help.

Another way of thinking about the help provided by organizations listed in the table is the “wrap-around” or holistic nature of their services. The help they provide is not confined to a single issue or area but, rather, responds to a client’s particular situation and multi-dimensional needs.

For example, women experiencing intimate partner violence typically want to remain safe and be able to continue to live with and support themselves and their children. Their situation may raise issues of safety planning, housing for themselves and their children, and income support. The organizations in the table supporting women experiencing intimate partner violence provide services in all these areas.

Another thread that is common to all the organizations in the table is their focus on supporting community members to meet their needs or achieve their goals; their websites are sprinkled with descriptions of the support they provide to community members.Footnote 10  The organizations’ staff do not step in and take charge for clients engaging and navigating processes, but rather support their clients in doing so; they seek to enable and empower their clients’ agency.

The important liaising role that community-based organizations play – connecting clients to housing, income support, health care, shelters, legal aid, and other community and legal services – is another example of the support they provide.

2. Recognizing and supporting this work

This essential work is part of the ecosystem of “informal justice” work that is carried out across the world. The global movement to support “customary and informal justice” is gaining momentum.

This report builds on previous research that describes and discusses the role of community workers in Ontario, and other parts of Canada, in helping people with their law-related problems.Footnote 11 As this and earlier reports show, Canada has a vibrant and diverse sector of community-based organizations providing this help.

Still, this type of help goes largely unrecognized, particularly by the formal legal sector. No doubt, part of the reason is the lack of clarity on what greater recognition would look like, and how increased recognition would advance meaningful access to justice. Would it mean more funding? More training? More partnerships with legal professionals? Less attention – or even proactive support – by legal regulators, some of whom want to ensure that legal support is provided only by legal professionals they license? Footnote 12

Increased recognition and support could take various forms. This is a complicated area, but one with great promise. We believe further research and reflection are needed.

Initial discussions and research are needed to explore how a cross-country working group might be formed to look more closely at this type of work and how it can be supported and enabled. (We note that involving a cross-section of community-based organizations would be essential to this endeavour.) How can this work be better recognized and supported as part of Canada’s justice ecosystem? What would recognition look like, and what difference would it make to people with problems that involve the law? What are the obstacles to increased recognition and support?

These are big questions, but even a small step – gathering together interested people reflecting the diversity of work that is being carried out in communities across Canada – would be a good start.

CLEO is grateful to the Department of Justice Canada for funding this project. And we are grateful to our colleagues at PLEI organizations across the country for their suggestions and support for this project.