5 Discussion
5.1 Research Highlights
Immigrants of Chinese descent living on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver shared the following key points:
Information finding strategies
- Online information (68%) and information obtained from family and friends (58%) were the top two sources of information participants sought, though this information was rated as only “somewhat helpful.”
- Government or legal services with online automated message systems and long timelines were perceived as being out of reach and often not a viable solution to a problem.
- Participants preferred off-line advice from multi-lingual legal experts and community workers with shared lived experience.
Barriers to Justice
- Lack of information (85%) and lack of time (58%) were top barriers to justice.
- Participants requested better access to translated information that goes beyond introductory pamphlets, but also worried that important information is lost in translation.
- Half of the participants hesitated to ask for help and felt that cultural expectations encourage Chinese Canadians to endure rather than seek help for a serious legal problem. This was especially so when enduring discrimination and harassment.
- Gender and immigration status were intersectional factors that affected some participants ability to access to justice.
- Participants worried that the Canadian justice system would not be responsive to them because it includes few representatives that have cultural proximity to them (such as having immigrant backgrounds, speaking with accented English, being of Chinese descent, or other such backgrounds).
Legal recourse strategies
- Complex legal problems that involved family conflicts were more often resolved though the formal legal system (89%).
- Problems that were related to discrimination were not generally resolved through official legal channels.
Consequences to facing legal problems
- Facing a serious legal problem impacted participants’ lives and worsened health conditions, caused excessive stress, anxiety and depression and increased the need for health services (95%). Social consequences, such as the loss of a social network, were more often reported by women (92%).
- Maintaining agency and choice throughout the process is important and adds to someone’s feeling of dignity and value.
5.2 Culture, Language, and Legal Strategies in a Biased Context
In this study we spoke to twenty individuals of Chinese descent. They shared with us that there is a need for more effective information sharing strategies for English language learners who experience serious legal problems.
First, there need to be more and better translations of web-information and brochures that are currently available especially when it concerns complex information:
“So what I want to reiterate is that providing a basic information that is introductory level is great but… what we also need is in-depth information that introduces what to do next.” [Research participant]
Participants noticed that when translated information is available on a webpage, it stops as soon as you go further into a problem which leaves English language learners at a disadvantage:
“Maybe the first two layers of website they have Mandarin translation. But if you go further then you need good English reading and searching ability to know the right answer.” [Research participant]
Together with this call for more and better access to translated information, many participants shared that they mistrust translated information on Canadian websites. For example, they wonder if the translated information is as up to date as the original English information.
In a conversation, consultants who create digital solutions for sharing legal information shared with us that translating legal information is challenging because it requires frequent updates and that maintaining high quality translation is costly. Often translation costs are not budgeted into website updates. As well, more tailored information to a complex legal problem is harder to offer online and often requires direct contact with an advocate or legal professional. Notwithstanding these challenges, many online legal information resources in B.C. do not currently offer any translation options even for its basic information level. Legal Help BC, ClickLaw BC, and the People’s Law School are all great at sharing legal information, but none of them provide translations on their websites, which indicates that there is room for improvement.
Second, along with English information being perceived as better than information offered in Mandarin or Cantonese, participants also shared that they think that English-speaking legal professionals of European descent will be more likely to get positive responses in court.
This does not mean that Chinese Canadians do not want better cultural representation among legal professionals. On the contrary, participants shared that they highly prefer a legal representative that has cultural proximity to them:
“I think we need lawyers who have lived experience, minority experiences, and I think we need a community of support clerks and security guards and social workers and support persons and interpreters who are educated in these kinds of issues.” [Research participant]
Nonetheless, believing that the Canadian justice system reflects the same biases as they see in their everyday world, Chinese communities might worry about anti-Asian and anti-immigrant bias in the justice system and might strategically choose an English-speaking white legal representative for that reason.
When a person of Chinese descent notices that people of who look like them are not given a voice, they might feel the need to have someone outside of their community speak up for them in court, while at the same time worrying whether that person really hears them and can advocate for them. Navigating this tension between wanting to be heard and operating in a system that does not seem to listen is a common challenge of many other racialized communities.
Building trust and dismantling biases and barriers would need to begin with ensuring that equity deserving communities such as Chinese Canadians have a voice, that they are heard throughout the legal system, and have equitable access to justice in Canada.
5.3 A Legal System Out of Reach
In recent years, online processes and resources have been created expressly to bring the legal system closer to the user. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic digital technology has been used to increase access to justice (Murray 2023). For example, Legal Aid BC has designed digital public education resources to bring legal information closer to the public.
While this growth in digital legal resources and information has been a good thing, populations with less digital access (for example, because of costs, lack of digital skills, language, and trust barriers) will not be able to benefit from these new resources to the same extend. Instead, it might do the opposite: with fewer off-line opportunities to receive advice from someone in person or on the phone, it might seem that legal information and access is increasingly further away. Recently, Murray (2023) found that new immigrants and racialized individuals were among the population groups that disproportionately faced access-related barriers to internet use. This is supported by our research findings.
Throughout our interviews it became apparent that the Canadian legal system is seen as out of reach for many participants, especially for those experiencing discrimination. Official reporting systems in the workplace or in the province are seen as not responsive and for that reason not seen as very useful:
“I call and they say ‘just wait’ but no action, no further action, no.” [Research participant]
“I called couple of times [to a government office] not even people answer the phone, I left a message, no one called me back. I had sent an email a few times… And the human rights [office], I call a couple of times. Everything is online…it just makes me so frustrated, there is so much information and so many forms to fill. My child can’t wait. That’s not the support we need at the moment.” [Research participant]
In our 2021 study we saw that online processes and forms can be very helpful, especially when it concerns relatively straight forward legal problems such as disputes with landlords. Having easy steps to follow and submitting complaints online are very much appreciated in those cases.
The opposite is true when the process is more complicated or less concrete, such as making a human rights complaint, the online processes and forms are seen as a hindrance and a barrier to being heard. In those cases, the participants of this study really wanted to talk to a person:
“So I actually kind of have no confidence. … I cannot get anyone to talk to me at the moment. So it’s quite discouraging to use that service [Legal Aid].” [Research participant]
“I feel like my kids are so urgent, I just want to talk to someone right away.” [Research participant]
Likewise, in the previous study participants expressed a preference for being able to talk with an actual person to get advice (Verhage 2022). As well, exposure to “online legal information does not directly equate to improved knowledge of rights or knowledge of how to handle a justice problem” (Denvir 2016); online information is often not enough to support individuals experiencing legal problems.
Digital access works best when it is complemented by off-line access to service providers, advisors, or navigators, which also was valued for receiving emotional support and compassionate interaction (Murray 2023). This finding is mirrored in this research, with participants calling for a more human approach to information sharing:
“I don’t have any hope for the legal system, I have experienced so much…what I need now is people.” [Research participant]
Several recent studies emphasize the important of law-related assistance from non-lawyers through community justice help and partnerships between legal clinics and other service providers (Mathews and Wiseman 2021; Currie 2021).
It is this human connection to learning, navigating and dealing with the aftermath of a serious legal problem, that sits at the core of the conversations we had throughout this research project. Human connection can also help with healing in the aftermath of a legal problem and establish important community connections:
“I could speak up, I feel at least I can say something… and I did try my best… that is part of my value and it also does balance my stress, I engage with my values and I do feel that is beneficial… [When dealing with] disappointment in society… relating to other people and helping others feels like a kind of healing.” [Research participant]
Offline and in-person connections can help someone navigate legal problems, it creates better understanding, trust, it increases the agency of a person experiencing legal problems, and lessens the social and emotional hurt people might experience. We need to nourish and support these kinds of human connections because they can reestablish trust and increase people’s access to justice.
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