Introducing NSRLP West

This week’s post is by Andrew Pilliar, Assistant Professor at Thompson Rivers University, Faculty of Law, and the new Director of NSRLP West.

NSRLP is growing. Thanks to funding from the Law Foundation of British Columbia, “NSRLP West” is launching in Kamloops, British Columbia, at the Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law.

In this post, I want to introduce you to NSRLP West, explain how it will work with NSRLP, and invite you to get in touch.

For more than six years, NSRLP has been committed to advancing understanding of how and why people come to court without counsel in Canada, and to improving the legal system for everyone – particularly for people who try to use that system. NSRLP has been national in scope, and has done amazing work to advance research and advocacy across Canada.

NSRLP was founded on the idea that Access to Justice problems are best addressed by trying to bridge the gap between those working in the legal system and those who often feel they are treated as outsiders by that system. This has meant pursuing research that is focused on the lived experiences of those who have dealt with the legal system. It has meant being unafraid to confront and examine the problems that people experience within the legal system. And it has also meant creating opportunities for constructive discussion to take place between legal system outsiders and insiders. To be sure, these conversations often aren’t easy. But they are far better than the alternatives. The hope is that these conversations may lead to change and to better outcomes.

NSRLP West will build on the work that NSRLP has begun, and will focus explicitly on Access to Justice concerns in Western Canada. In the short-term, NSRLP West will focus on the region around Kamloops, and then around British Columbia as a whole. But as our team settles in, we expect to expand our scope of work to include Access to Justice issues in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, as well as the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.

NSRLP West’s position in the Interior of British Columbia will allow us to build on relationships that NSRLP has already formed with many people and organizations in the province, including but not limited to the BC Courts (Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, and Provincial Court), the Legal Services Society, the BC Ministry of the Attorney General, Access Pro Bono, and the many current or former SRLs who live in BC and have been involved with NSRLP. Further, being located in Kamloops promises to add new dimensions to the research and advocacy that NSLRP and NSRLP West can do. For example, while Windsor, Ontario is classified as a large urban centre (with a 2016 census population of 287,000 people), Kamloops is a medium-sized city (with a 2016 census population of 78,000 people). Further, Kamloops is positioned quite centrally in British Columbia, with ready access to much of the rest of the province, and to Alberta. And finally, Kamloops is located within the unceded territory of the Secwepemc people, and NSRLP West will work to build meaningful connections with Indigenous people who have experiences being self-represented in the Canadian legal system.

The Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University is one of the newest in Canada, but since its beginning in 2011, it has forged a reputation for doing high-quality legal research and for doing legal education differently. In recent years, the law school has been developing particular expertise in research on Access to Justice. For example, my colleague Professor Katie Sykes – who has already been lauded for her courses on using apps to improve Access to Justice – is currently conducting first-of-its kind research into how BC’s Civil Resolution Tribunal is being used by people in British Columbia. (Incidentally, if you’ve had any experience with the CRT, please consider joining Professor Sykes’s research study – more information here). And there are many other examples of faculty members at TRU whose research focuses on Access to Justice issues in prominent ways. NSRLP West will build on this strong foundation.

Importantly, TRU places value on research that creates links between the university and communities. This means that there is institutional support for research that puts people at the centre of research and advocacy – something that NSRLP has done so well for so long.

In order for NSRLP West to live up to its promise, it needs your engagement. If you live in Western Canada and have had experiences being self-represented in the legal system, please consider filling out NSRLP’s Intake Form, and indicating that you are interested in NSRLP West.

We’re just starting up, and it may take us a little while as we get our team in place. But expect to hear more from NSRLP West soon…