PAJLO: A Vision, a Commitment

The acronym PAJLO designates certain initiatives of the Department of Justice of Canada to promote access to justice in both official languages:

1. Funding:
   • Basic funding of French-speaking lawyers associations and their national federation;
   • Funding of projects
     • that can facilitate the development of innovative solutions to improve access to justice in both official languages (which includes the effective implementation of sections 530 and 530.1 of the Criminal Code),
     • that can raise awareness among the legal community and official language minority communities on the exercise of their rights in this area;
2. Consultations and discussions orchestrated primarily by the following two bodies:
   • The Advisory Sub-Committee on Access to Justice in Both Official Languages, which is chiefly responsible for creating links between the Department of Justice, official language minority communities and the legal community serving these communities,
   • The Federal-Provincial-Territorial Working Group on Access to Justice in Both Official Languages, whose mandate includes identifying barriers and proposing solutions;
3. Jurilinguistic training and documentation, especially for French-speaking lawyers working in common law and English-speaking lawyers working in the civil law system.

Under the direction of the Office of La Francophonie, Justice in Official Languages and Legal Dualism, these initiatives directly support one of the primary objectives of the Department of Justice of Canada: the implementation of an increasingly relevant justice system that meets the needs of Canadians by ensuring better access to justice in both official languages.

More information :

• Some milestones on a steady path
• Strategies to meet the challenge