VANCOUVER — British Columbia's top judge is heading a group that aims to reform the province's family and civil justice system.
Justice Robert Bauman says the goal of Access to Justice BC is make to the system more accessible by changing it from the users' perspective.
He says the diverse membership of the group means justice reforms will be different from past initiatives and that the end result will be more than creating yet another report.
Bauman says users of civil and family justice must be recognized as partners in reform.
Access to Justice BC is a response to a 2013 federal report that criticized civil and family justice in Canada as too slow, too complex and too expensive.
Former Vancouver family lawyer John-Paul Boyd says the system remains adversarial and inaccessible despite numerous attempts at reform but he's hoping Bauman's leadership will finally lead to changes.
Boyd, who is now executive director of the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family in Calgary, says the cost of unresolved conflict for divorcing couples and their children is too high for the status quo to continue.
He says too many people are trying to represent themselves in court because they can't afford lawyers and many of issues would be better dealt with through mediation.
