Mr Justice David Price is a judge in the Brampton Superior Court. Before his appointment to the Bench, he was the President of the Etobicoke Conflict Mediation Team for Community Mediation and Restorative Justice. Justice Price has famously advised parents litigating in his court to read books on conflict resolution (for example, “Difficult Conversations” by Bruce Patton), in the hopes that they translate these into more effective strategies to help them resolve their communication and relationship conflicts.
Justice Price attended the Dialogue Event in May 2013 and offered the SRL delegates a picture of a judge who was open to their respectful feedback, and compassionate about the stress and anxiety of self-representation.
He has agreed on several occasions to provide media comment (in his personal capacity) on NSRLP projects, including most recently the Open Letter to the Canadian Judiciary. Commenting on the challenges of self-representation for both the Bench and for SRLs, Justice Price reflected “I have …gained a greater understanding of the fear that litigants experience in the courtroom, and their feeling of disempowerment by practices that treat self-represented litigants differently than litigants with lawyers.”
Justice Price is nominated to our Access to Justice All-Stars Team by SRL Tim Summers, who met Justice Price as a delegate at the Dialogue Event. Tim writes: “Out for supper after a great day of discussing possible solutions to SRL concerns I found myself enjoying a deep conversation on life and people with my table neighbour. About halfway through the meal we got to the ‘what brought you here to the Dialogue Event?’ question. At that time I discovered that my friendly and insightful neighbour was one of those whom some would describe as the “bane” of SRL existence – a judge.
It is with true pleasure that I nominate Justice David Price to the Access to Justice All-Stars team for bringing a new picture of judges to SRLs. He demonstrates the reality that many judges are caring and compassionate individuals who do their best for all people. His support for SRLs helps to change how SRLs view judges, and how judges view SRLs – something I believe to be a critical part of system change. We need to see each other as people first, and Justice Price does just that.”