News and Views Issue 5: Fall 2002
Saskatchewan and Québec Clearinghouse Projects
The "Civil Justice Clearinghouse" is a web-based database of information on civil justice systems and civil justice reform. The earliest information captured in the database was a bibliographic record of published materials, primarily from Canada but also including material from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. We have organized these materials according to our specialized subject headings, and searches can be conducted on our website using these subject headings, author and title. (At www.cfcj-fcjc.org click on "Civil Justice Clearinghouse".)
Our database is expanding to include materials which have been previously unpublished or not widely available, including draft rules and legislation, reports, commentary, articles, minutes, surveys and research papers on civil justice initiatives. These materials provide valuable background information for jurisdictions contemplating similar reform measures, and as we obtain copyright permissions, we are making them available full-text.
To learn about and obtain access to these previously unpublished materials, we are contacting organizations and individuals who have written or collected materials in their respective jurisdictions, including the Bar, the judiciary, rules committees, court administrators, legislators, academics, public legal educators, law reform institutes, legal aid societies, arbitrators, mediators and librarians. With the assistance of funding from Law Foundations and the CBA Law for the Future Fund we have travelled and met with key contacts in Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and the federal jurisdiction. We are about to travel to Saskatchewan and to Quebec, and will continue to expand the database with the addition of previously unpublished or not widely available material from these jurisdictions.
Don't feel you have to wait for us to contact you. We welcome your phone call or e-mail telling us about materials you have written or are familiar with, and allowing us to make them widely available on our website. You can reach us at (780) 492-2513 or by e-mail at cjforum@law.ualberta.ca.