Background

On Nov. 30, 2007, former Attorney-General Michael Bryant announced the creation of the new Law Commission of Ontario (LCO). The Commission is created to reconcieve the law and evaluate issues of reform.

Bryant said,

The goal is to create a modern, relevant and responsive commission that will bring forward recommendations to improve the administration of Ontario’s justice system and enhance access to justice. For many years, the previous law reform commission was an important instrument of change in our province’s legal system. It was known to forward progressive ideas, ask tough questions and engage in creative, innovative, critical thinking. Our justice system needs the same capacity today.

The purpose of the Law Commission include:

1. Enhance the legal system’s relevance, effectiveness and accessibility;
2. Improve the administration of justice through the clarification and simplification of the law;
3. Consider the effectiveness and use of technology as a means to enhance access to justice;
4. Stimulate critical debate about law and promote scholarly legal research; and
5. Develop priority areas for study which are underserved by other research, determine ways to disseminate the information to those who need it and foster links with communities, groups and agencies.

Mandate and Submissions

Dr. Patricia Hughes, Executive Director of the Law Commission of Ontario, said at the launch of the Commission on Sept. 7, 2007,

Ontario needs a body with the mandate to be both innovative and practical in identifying areas of law that require reform and in recommending appropriate reforms,I am anxious to begin working with the partners who have had the insight to establish the LCO to make it a major and integral part of Ontario‘s legal landscape.

 

Hughes visited the University of Western Ontario on Jan. 29, 2008, to share more about the Commission,

We’re trying to be visionaries… but at the same time be practical about what needs to be done. We’re prepared to look at all areas of law, from business to social areas…

We don’t want to do too much in one area.

Applications have already been made for projects on international obligations, and Hughes said that this scope might very well be in their mandate in the future.

Although the Commission cannot give recommendations to the Federal government, there is nothing preventing them from working on issues that falls between jurisdictions and talking about how they are related.

Ontario is a leader, it ought to be a leader, and one way to do that is bring people together.

One such topic of interest raised has been environmental law.

Currently projects identified for review include fees for cashing government cheques, pension structure during marital breakdown, laws related to elderly people, and law relating to disability.

Proposals to the LCO are made in a 2-page submission detailing the mischief it will address and why it is important for the LCO mandate to:

Law Commission of Ontario

Computer Methods Building, Suite 201, 4850 Keele St.,

Toronto ON, Canaa, M3J 1P3

Partnerships, and with Students
Dr. Hughes also elaborated on the partnerships the commission was creating, which included up to two faculty members from Osgoode Hall, and a lawyer from the Ministry of the Attorney General. Hughes also shared that opposition groups are also consulted with to obtain perspectives from a broad spectrum.

Dr. Hughes also shared that the Commission will be hiring students to participate in their process. This could include jobs during the term and the summer, as well as internship programs.

This would be open to students in law school across Ontario. They would not necessarily have to be in Toronto to participate, and the Commission would evaluate teleconferencing capabilities.