A civil society through ughCourtrooms education and ialogue A civil society through education and dialogue A civil society through education and dialogue& ClassroomsA civil society through educa SPRING 2011 Checking in on OJEN’s Inside this issue Message from Seven Year Plan Ontario’s Chief Justices . 2 ine years ago OJEN was launched with The explosive demand for programs, which Promoting Civic a mandate to contribute to a civil grows each year, and the limited resources Engagement . 3 Nsociety through education and available to deliver them, made it necessary dialogue. Since that time, focusing on youth, for OJEN to take stock, define priorities and we have developed programs and resources making clear plans for sustainable growth. Addressing Emerging that clarify the way the justice system works, In 2009, after months of consultation with Needs . 4 Building on Strengths . 5 Involving Youth Strategically . 6 Striving for Diversity . 7 Raising OJEN’s Community Profile . 8 Enhancing Administrative Capacity . 9 OJEN Recognition Awards . 10 Donate to OJEN . 10 100 high school girls with Deena Ladd at OJEN’s Trailblazers: Meeting Women in Law event commemorating Persons Day 2010. Courtrooms & Classrooms emphasizing its vital role as a protector of stakeholders, OJEN’s Board of Directors Notice Board . 11 individual and collective rights. We have adopted a seven year plan which established promoted dialogue between disenfranchised priorities, strategies and outcomes to guide Upcoming Events. 11 communities and justice professionals, our planning to 2015. facilitating meaningful interactions that build mutual understanding. We have introduced In the past year we achieved milestones in young people to individuals on the forefront each of the seven priority areas of our plan of social change and empowered them to with the support of OJEN Committees OJEN is a not-for-profit make positive changes in their own around the province, hundreds of dedicated charitable organization. communities too. Partnering with diverse volunteers and numerous community Your donation helps agencies. OJEN programs and resources organizations in every part of the province, bring quality justice directly impacted more people than ever, we have responded to requests for education opportunities programming tailored to the differing needs approximately 260,000 youth, teachers and to thousands of youth of each. In Ontario, with its diversity of community workers in 2010. language, ethnicity, values and beliefs, OJEN’s throughout the province justice education programs are helping to Success is often measured by income each year. To find out create an environment where people with statements or numbers on a chart so it is not how you can donate, competing ideas and interests feel welcome visit www.ojen.ca and equal. continued on page 2 A civil society through education and dialogue Celebrating OJEN’s Justice Education Programming in 2010 he year 2010 was a good one for OJEN. Over 70,000 students had positive first encounters with the courts in Ontario through the Courtrooms & Classrooms program; approximately 600 secondary school teachers attended professional T development sessions to enhance their understanding of justice issues; over 3800 students and youth developed advocacy skills while participating in mock trials, and nearly 500 youth workers received an introduction to the criminal justice system by attending a Navigating the Justice System workshop, to list but a few highlights. In addition, several new classroom resources were developed and added to the OJEN library. All told, over 86,000 children and youth participated in OJEN programs and about 100,000 students used OJEN print and DVD resources in their classrooms! These programs were delivered by justice sector professionals who generously contributed over 24,000 pro bono hours of energy and expertise in every region of the province, led by OJEN Committees in each community. We applaud all of your dedication and hard work! OJEN fosters collaboration among the judiciary, lawyers, justice sector institutions, court staff, educators, youth, community associations and others, demonstrating the innovation that can occur when we join forces across professional borders to address the needs of the community. We reiterate our commitment, as well as that of each of our courts, to teach the community about our system of justice. The issues facing our communities are complex and challenging. By empowering citizens to be comfortable with the mechanisms of our democratic institutions, they can bring about positive change. This is critical to a healthy society. The investment we make in our children and youth to foster the attitudes, knowledge and skills necessary to become such empowered citizens is vital. We look forward to joining with you again this year to continue OJEN’s important work. Warren K. Winkler Heather Forster Smith Annemarie E. Bonkalo Chief Justice of Ontario Chief Justice Chief Justice Superior Court of Justice Ontario Court of Justice continued from page 1 always easy to demonstrate OJEN’s impact on a civil society, I invite you to read through this issue and find out more youth attitudes or democratic participation. On these pages about OJEN’s strategic goals and the steps we have taken this you will find a combination of anecdotes, program rationale year to achieve them. If you would like more information and participation statistics that provide a snapshot of our about any aspect of what we do or if you would like to activities over the past year. However, it may be the words of become involved in our programs, we welcome hearing this grade 5 student who participated in an OJEN Civil Mock from you. Trial project that best exemplifies the impact of our work. “People need to talk over their problems and listen to each other’s point of view. We need to make smart decisions for the rest of our lives! As adults, we should be prepared to become a real jury member in a real trial. As citizens of the world, we need to look out for each other and make sure that every day is Sarah McCoubrey a safe day!” Executive Director, OJEN 2 - Ontario Justice Education Network spring 2011 Promoting civic engagement as part of justice education exposes people to the role the justice system plays in an evolving democratic society. Promoting Inviting students to discuss legal issues and advocate for change, builds the skills and attitudes they need to participate in their communities as Civic active citizens. OJEN’s success in supporting Civics teachers through programs and classroom resources and its ongoing Active Citizens Engagement program, has led to interest from newcomer and other community organizations for Active Citizens programs beyond the classroom setting. Spotlight on Programs 2010 Milestones: • 860 students across Ontario participated in the Profiling the Role of the Jury Charter Survey The challenges to building a civil society differ from • 75 Grade 10 students participated in Active community to community. In Ontario’s North West, one Citizens workshops such challenge arises from mistrust or • 60 students worked on in-classsocial justice misunderstanding that sometimes occurs between projects Aboriginal people and the criminal justice system. The • Developed new Elementary School jury resources under representation of Aboriginal people on juries in Ontario has frequently been cited as a barrier to access to justice. Addressing this issue was the basis of an Over six sessions, students learned about the court ambitious justice education program OJEN initiated system with special emphasis given to the role of the with funding from the Department of Justice Canada, jury. They also contrasted traditional sentencing circles The Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Law with the conventional justice model. The program Foundation of Ontario. culminated with the students participating in a mock trial and a mock sentencing circle at the Thunder Bay With support from the local bar, students at the Dennis Court House. Afterward, the students were interviewed Franklin Cromarty High School’s Civics/Careers class in in their own first language, Ojibway or Oji-Cree, about Thunder Bay took part in a mock jury trial program. their experience participating on the jury. Upon the conclusion of the program, most of the students indicated a greater comfort with the criminal trial process, particularly the jury process and would consider sitting on a real jury in the future. The film footage shot at the mock trial, sentencing circle and the interviews with students has been developed into an educational resource to promote understanding of the justice system and emphasize the importance of jury duty. Here is how one student described the experience: “When we started the mock trial, you could tell everyone was nervous and excited. I found that participating in the mock trial was the most exciting thing I’ve done since I have been a student at DFC. I played a jury member and as we finished listening to the evidence that the lawyers and witnesses presented, we went into the deliberation Students at the Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School are interviewed about room to discuss the evidence about the accused. Dylan their experience in the mock jury trial program. Desmoulin was charged with assault causing bodily harm. Our job as a jury was to discuss whether Dylan was guilty or not. The vote was 11 to 1 to find him not guilty. The others tried to change my mind but it didn’t work. The result was a hung jury.” spring 2011 Ontario Justice Education Network - 3 One of OJEN’s strengths is its ability to respond to time- sensitive requests and adapt to changing needs of Addressing communities throughout the province. Working with a variety of partners, OJEN continued, in 2010, to tailor justice education Emerging Needs solutions to the needs of specific groups while expanding programming and resources to new constituencies. Elementary Civic Mock Trial Program Spotlight on Programs OJEN, in partnership with the Toronto Lawyers Association, followed up the successful pilot of the Elementary Civil Mock Trial Program in 2009 with a full year of programming in Toronto area schools.