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I ea Programs Branch User Report 1 The Rise and Fall of Justice Councils in British Columbia No. 1986-9 _...4 IOEB 532 C6 y of the Solicitor General of Canada 1986 c.2 Secretariat 8 5-3 2 C G 11n C' 2 I Copeght of this %per authorizationdocument any intended use must does not belong to the Crown. be obtained from the author for Les droits Pas rétat. dauteur présent document Toute dolt document être utilisation du contenu dunappailiennent présent i approuvée préalablement LIBRARY par MINISTRY OF TSF. SOLICITOR lauteur. GENERAL OF CvNADA OCT n • • • E OU SOL:. IC. JR O r-ANADA K IA \ t,w CosS tsrir) The Rise and Fall of Justice Councils in British Columbia No. 1986-9 The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada. This report may not be published, cited or reproduced without permission of the Ministry. The Rise and Fall of Justice Councils in British Columbia John Cossom and David Turner School of Social Work University of Victoria Victoria, British Columbia December, 1985 The authors are grateful for financial support provided through a research grant from the University of Victoria, and from the Consultation Centre of the Solicitor General Canada;' without which this study would not have been possible. Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Methodology 2 A Change in Government 3 The Emergence of the Justice Council Idea 4 The Justice Development Commission — A Vehicle of Change 6 A Local Community Base for Justice Councils Emerges 7 The Community Development Model • 9 The Formation of the Justice Councils Branch 10 Goals of the Justice Councils Branch 11 The Administrative Structure. 13 Funding the Councils 14 The Regional Coordinators 16 The Role of Coordinator 17 The Coordinators' Group 19 How a Council Was Formed — Theory and Practice 21 The Objectives for Justice Councils 24 The Regional Coordinators Look at Goals for the Councils 27 Some Form of Citizen Involvement with the Justice System 27 The Coordination of Professionals 29 Community Involvement in Justice Related Projects 29 The Purposes of Councils — Members' Points of View 30 How Did the Councils Achieve Their Objectives' 33 Citizen Participation 33 Decentralization 35 Communication 36 Coordination 39 Planning 41 Innovation 42 The Practical Problems of Implementing Justice Councils 44 Changes in Government — Justice Councils Relationship, 1975-1979 . 47 The Decline of Justice Councils OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 48 The Provincial Association (1977-1981). o 0 o 6 0 55 The Removal of the Justice Coordinators OOOOO . 60 Other Factors OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 63 Comparison with Community Resource Boards . . OOOOOOO 64 Lessons Learned OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO • • Oe• •0 66 Cl osing Comments OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO 69 Introduction This paper traces, the rise and fall of Justice Councils in British Columbia from the time that the idea was conceived in 1972, through their implementation and development and on to their gradual disappearance from the scene in the early 1980's. (See Appendix A for a Justice Councils Chronology) The aspects addressed will include: the climate and prevailing ideology of the times that led to the emergence of Justice Councils, the purposes that were envisaged for them, the model which guided their development, the ways in which they were established, activities that the various Justice Councils undertook and the process and reasons for their demise. Justice Councils were formed to enable citizens and professionals to participate in and provide input to the discussion of justice issues at a local level. Their development was a small part of many changes that occurred in British Columbia at a time when there was a government commitment to reform and decentralize the justice system, to seek greater communication with citizens about justice issues, and to better coordinate justice services for people. This approach to involving citizens in the justice system in British Columbia represented a unique Canadian social experiment in this field. Even though the history of Justice Councils is a relatively brief and recent one, it is one which warrants documentation for the record. There are undoubtedly valuable lessons to be learned from it. The authors undertook this study because of their interest in and commitment to the principle of citizen participation in social and justice services, and bring this bias to the work. The research was initially funded by a small grant from the University of Victoria. Then an 1 invitation from the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada was accepted to complete the research with additional funding. One of the authors was an active participant in a Justice Council, while the other was not in British Columbia when most of the events under study took place. Methodolo9y Because Justice Councils were quite a recent phenomenon and have not long departed the scene, most of the principal actors in them are still available to talk about their ideas and experiences. The vast majority of them continue to live'in British Columbia. Many continue to work in the justice arena. Hence, the primary method of data collection was through structured interviews with participants who played a variety of roles in the Justice Council movement. Interviews were audio—tape recorded, transcribed and analyzed as the principal source of data for this report. A copy of the standard questionnaire used is in Appendix B, which was sent to all respondents in advance. People interviewed by the authors included politicians, justice planners, senior civil servants, administrators and staff responsible for direct work with Justice Councils, and a sample of actual lay members of the councils themselves. A list of those persons interviewed and their roles in relation to Justice Councils appears in Appendix C. The authors greatly appreciate the helpfulness of the thirty—one people who agreed to be interviewed for this study. It is important to note the timing and context for these interviews. Our respondents were interviewed between 1983 and 1985, and were recalling events five to ten years old. Many people's reflections about the past were undoubtedly coloured by the more recent context of serious restraint and cutbacks in virtually all social services and justice programs. 2 Other data were drawn from responses to a written questionnaire completed by participants who attended the final Justice Council Conference held in Cranbrook, B.C. in June, 1981. Finally, other information was gathered from a variety of sources of existing published and unpublished written material about the Justice Councils, such as reports, evaluations, speeches, government documents and newspaper articles. A Change in Government August 1972 saw the New Democratic Party sweep to power in British Columbia after 20 years of Social Credit government under Premier W.A.C. Bennett. It is fair to say that traditionally politics have been more polar and conflictual in British Columbia than in any other Canadian province. A change in government in British Columbia signals distinct changes in direction that are reflective of widely divergent ideologies of the two parties that dominate the Provincial scene. Such was very evident in 1972 as the N.D.P. formed the government in British Columbia for the first time. One of the many areas targeted for reform by the new government was the administration of justice. Beyond this, the N.D.P. came to power with a commitment to increase citizen participation in the processes of government. It is also evident that even without a change in government pressing items such as court structure and administration, law reform and a host of other justice issues were pushing themselves onto the agenda for political attention. In fact prior to the election in 1972, both the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association and the Law Reform Commission of British Columbia had already been involved in separate assessments, which called for major reviews of the justice system. (22,p.2) Hence, the new Attorney General in the N.D.P. government, Alex MacDonald, came to his portfolio with a strong commitment to and a mandate for change and reform. It appears as if few specific proposals emerged in the election campaign for altering the administration of justice. Other issues dominated the election campaigns of 1972. However, it could be safely assumed that change would follow in this, as in many other areas, given a change in government. The authors could find no evidence or discussion of the specific concept of Justice Councils in the election campaign.

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