The simple fact is that every participant in the criminal justice system is talking about access to justice and making changes, so the rules committees of various courthouses, certainly in British Columbia, are revising the rules. They're revising the forms. They're simplifying the process, but it doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the law is complex. Unless individuals can get a lawyer at the front end to assist them in managing their way through the justice system, it does not take long for things to go sideways, for individuals to self-represent in the criminal courts. What happens when they self-represent in the criminal courts is that appeals are likely. In the family court it just takes so much more time.
The reality is that we have to start not only looking at all of the other processes that will increase access to justice but increase the budget for legal aid at the same time, and to understand that defence lawyers and family lawyers are an intricate, integral part of the system. They're not just an add-on. The system will not work without them, and that's been shown time and time again.