Publication Date
3-31-2025
Document Type
Article
English Abstract
This article reports the results of an in-depth qualitative study of advice-seeking behaviours in a large Canadian city. Nine participants were recruited from neighbourhood houses in the Vancouver area to discuss their experiences in responding to one of two kinds of justiciable event: a personal injury or a government benefits problem. The paper offers a detailed discussion of nuances in how individuals experienced, characterized, and took action in response to their justiciable problem. Notably, many of the research participants spoke about the importance of social supports and the contingent nature of those supports, both in understanding what they had experienced and in deciding how to respond. This finding suggests that future research on unmet legal needs and advice-seeking behaviour should more explicitly consider the implications of individuals’ social embeddedness in responding to access to justice problems.
Citation Information
Pilliar, Andrew.
"Navigating the Paths to Justice: A Study on the Role of Social Supports in Responding to Justiciable Events."
Journal of Law and Social Policy
37.
(2025): 130-153.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/0829-3929.1493
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/jlsp/vol37/iss1/7
References
1 See e.g. Canada, Department of Justice, by Ab Currie, The Legal Problems of Everyday Life The Nature, Extent and Consequences of Justiciable Problems Experienced by Canadians (Ottawa: Department of Justice, 2007) at 10, online: justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/jsp-sjp/rr07_la1-rr07_aj1/rr07_la1.pdf [perma.cc/7Y8W-BP35] [Legal Problems]; Trevor CW Farrow et al, "Everyday Legal Problems and the Cost of Justice in Canada: Overview Report" (Toronto: Canadian Forum on Civil Justice, 2016) at 6, online: cfcjfcjc.org/sites/default/files/Everyday%20Legal%20Problems%20and%20the%20Cost%20of%20Justice%20in%20Canada%20-%20Overview%20Report.pdf [perma.cc/4X6X-9ZD3] [Cost of Justice]; Statistics Canada, Experiences of Serious Problems or Disputes in the Canadian Provinces, 2021 by Laura Savage & Susan McDonald, Catalogue No 85-002-X (Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 18 January 2022), online: www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002- x/2022001/article/00001-eng.htm#mi-rs [perma.cc/PS6V-4CXC] [Experiences of Serious Problems or Disputes]. See also Rebecca L Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know about the Legal Needs of the Public" (2016) 67: 2 SCL Rev 443 [What We Know and Need to Know]
2 For recent work and discussion on the relative scarcity of this type of research, see Kathryne M. Young, "Getting Help" (2024) 4 Wis L Review 1149.
3 Patricia Ewick & Susan S Silbey, The Common Place of Law: Stories from Everyday Life (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998) [The Common Place of Law] https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226212708.001.0001
4 See e.g. Anna-Maria Marshall, "Idle Rights: Employees' Rights Consciousness and the Construction of Sexual Harassment Policies" (2005) 39:1 Law & Soc'y Rev 83 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0023-9216.2005.00078.x; Kathleen E Hull, "Legal Consciousness in Marginalized Groups: The Case of LGBT People" (2016) 41:3 Law & Soc Inquiry 551. https://doi.org/10.1111/lsi.12190
5 William LF Felstiner, Richard L Abel, & Austin Sarat, "The Emergence and Transformation of Disputes: Naming, Blaming, Claiming…" (1980) 15:3/4 Law & Soc'y Rev 631. https://doi.org/10.2307/3053505
6 For a recent, notable example of research which brings these fields together, see Nigel J Balmer et al, The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) Volume 1: Everyday Problems and Legal Need (Melbourne: Victoria Law Foundation, 2023); Nigel J Balmer et al, The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS) Volume 2: Understanding and Capability (Melbourne: Victoria Law Foundation, 2024); and Nigel J Balmer et al, The Public Understanding of Law Survey (PULS), Volume 3: A New Perspective on Legal Need and Legal Capability. (Melbourne: Victoria Law Foundation. 2024) [A New Perspective on Legal Need and Legal Capability]
7 Herbert M Kritzer, "The Antecedents of Disputes: Complaining and Claiming" (2011) 1:6 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 1 at 8; Emily S Taylor Poppe, "Surprised by the Inevitable: A National Survey of Estate Planning Utilization" (2020) 53:5 UC Davis L Rev 2511.
8 Hazel Genn, Paths to Justice: What People Do and Think about Going to Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1999).
9 Ibid at 12.
10 Ibid.
11 Note that in this regard, there are some similarities between unmet legal needs methods and those of legal consciousness research, described below. Indeed, in describing some of her own legal consciousness research, Susan Silbey notes the important conceptual move in which researchers "did not directly ask about law; they asked about people's lives and waited to hear when the law emerged, or did not emerge, in the accounts people provided of an enormous array of topics and events that might pose problems or become matters of concern or conflict." See Susan S Silbey, "After Legal Consciousness" (2005) 1:1 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 323 at 347. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.lawsocsci.1.041604.115938
12 Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know," supra note 1; Rebecca L Sandefur, "Access to What?" (2019) 148:1 Daedalus 49 https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_a_00534
13 Legal Problems, supra note 1 at 10 (reporting 44.6% of respondents who had experienced a justiciable problem); see also Farrow et al, "Cost of Justice" supra note 1 at 6 (reporting 48.4% of respondents who experienced a justiciable problem). But for recent research that demonstrates a markedly lower incidence rate, see Statistics Canada, "Experiences of Serious Problems or Disputes," supra note 1.
14 See e.g. Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know," supra note 1 at 443-444. See also World Justice Project, "Global Insights on Access to Justice: Findings from the World Justice Project General Population Poll in 101 Countries" (2019), online (pdf): worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-A2J-2019.pdf [perma.cc/Y74E-EVMA].
15 See Department of Justice, "Legal Problems," supra note 1; Farrow, "Cost of Justice," supra note 1.
16 See Department of Justice, "Legal Problems," supra note 1 at 44-47. See also Sandefur, "Access to What?" supra note 12 at 53. I use the term "social margins" to denote groups of people with shared characteristics that have often been regarded as outside society's dominant norms. For example, Currie's research noted that living with one or more disabilities, racialization, Indigeneity, receiving social assistance, being young, and having a low income were each related to a higher likelihood of reporting multiple justiciable problems. But it is important to remember that marginality is a constructed, complicated, and relative term. See e.g. Sam Turner & Rob Young, "Concealed Communities: The People at the Margins" (2007) 11:4 International Journal of Historical Archaeology 297.
17 Silbey, supra note 11 at 323. For a discussion of legal consciousness that acknowledges Canadian contexts, See e.g. Lesley A Jacobs, "Legal Consciousness and Its Significance for Law and Society Teaching outside Canadian Law Schools" (2003) 18:1 CJLS 61. For a recent, detailed discussion of the genealogy of legal consciousness, see Susan S Silbey, "Studying Legal Consciousness: Building Institutional Theory from Micro Data" (2018) 100:3 Dr et soc 685. https://doi.org/10.3917/drs1.100.0685
18 Silbey, supra note 11 at 332.
19 Ibid at 334.
20 Sally Engle Merry and Susan S Silbey, "What Do Plaintiffs Want? Reexamining the Concept of Dispute" (1984) 9:2 The Justice System Journal 151.
21 Felstiner, Abel, & Sarat, supra note 5.
22 Ibid at 633-636.
23 See e.g. Young, supra note 2.
24 Stian Reimers, Nigel J Balmer & Pascoe Pleasence, "What Really Drives Advice Seeking Behaviour? Looking Beyond the Subject of Legal Disputes" (2011) 1:6 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 3 at 3. See also Matthew Dylag, "Informal Justice: An Examination of Why Ontarians Do Not Seek Legal Advice" (2018) 35 Windsor YB Access Just 363. https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v35i0.5786
25 Legal Problems, supra note 1 at 56. This number is derived by adding the percentage of survey participants who responded to a justiciable problem by seeking non-legal assistance or legal assistance. Note that Currie does not differentiate between "formal advice" and "informal advice". Research in the United Kingdom has described "formal advice" as follows: "Formal advice can take many forms, and may involve little or no reference to rights or formal dispute resolution processes." See Pascoe Pleasence, Nigel Balmer, & Alexy Buck, Causes of Action: Civil Law and Social Justice (Norwich, UK: The Stationery Office, 2006) at 89.
26 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24 at 4.
27 Ibid at 3.
28 Ibid at 4.
29 Ibid (suggesting that there is "good evidence that - in jurisdictions with established legal aid programs - those on lower middle incomes are least likely to access lawyers") at 4. Others have suggested that income actually plays a very small role in determining advice seeking behaviour compared to problem type. See e.g. Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know," supra note 1.
30 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasance, supra note 24 at 4.
31 Ibid at 4-5 (whether this experience is first degree or shared by someone within the household).
32 Ibid at 5.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 Balmer et al, "A New Perspective on Legal Need and Legal Capability," supra note 6 at 43-45.
36 Silbey, supra note 11 at 326.
37 I conducted a total of 11 interviews, but unfortunately had to exclude two of those interviews because the legal problem the individual experienced fell outside the range of problems that were the focus of the research.
38 See SR Lauer & MC Yan, "Neighbourhood Houses and Bridging Social Ties" (2007) Metropolis British Columbia Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Diversity, Working Paper, No. 07 at 15-16.
39 See Legal Problems, supra note 1; Cost of Justice, supra note 1. See also Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know," supra note 1; Ewick & Silbey, "The Common Place of Law," supra note 3; Pleasence, Balmer & Buck, supra note 25.
40 See e.g. Legal Problems, supra note 1 at 12-13 (reporting incidence rates for personal injury problems of 2.9%, and incidence rates for social assistance and disability benefits problems at 1.2% and 1.0%, respectively); Cost of Justice, supra note 1 at 8 (reporting incidence rates for personal injury problems at 2.5%, and incidence rates for disability assistance and social assistance problems at 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively).
41 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24 at 14.
42 Silbey, supra note 11 at 352.
43 Survey questionnaire from Farrow, "Cost of Justice" supra note 1 (on file with author).
44 Research recruitment flyer, on file with author.
45 Research recruitment flyer, on file with author.
46 Survey questionnaire from Farrow, "Cost of Justice" supra note 1 (on file with author).
47 See e.g. Canada, Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, "Health care in Canada: Access our universal health care system" (Ottawa: Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, 2021), online: canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/new-immigrants/new-life-canada/health-care/universalsystem.html [perma.cc/S2QR-FW5F] . Note also that there is significant literature describing the actual barriers to access that many experience. See e.g. George Tjensvoll Kitching et al, "Unmet Health Needs and Discrimination by Healthcare Providers Among an Indigenous Population in Toronto, Canada" (2019) 111:1 Canadian Journal of Public Health 40.
48 Medicare Protection Act, RSBC 1996, c 286.
49 See British Columbia, Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, "When You've Been Injured in a Crash"(Victoria: Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, 2022), online: icbc.com/claims/injury/Pages/default.aspx [perma.cc/4G2W-B445]; British Columbia, WorkSafe BC, "View & Submit Claim Information" (Victoria: WorkSafe BC, 2022), online: worksafebc.com/en/claims/manage-claim/view-submit-claim-information [perma.cc/PS35- 3PSJ]; British Columbia, Ministry of the Attorney General, "Victim Services - Criminal Justice System" (Victoria: Ministry of the Attorney General, 2022), online: gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/criminal-justice/bcs-criminal-justice- system/understanding-criminal-justice/key-parts/victim-services [perma.cc/3ZCX-DQKC].
50 See Canada, Employment and Social Development Canada, "Employment Insurance Benefits and Leave" (Ottawa: Employment and Social Development Canada, 2022), online: canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei.html [perma.cc/BH7A-EK25]; British Columbia, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, "Apply for Assistance" (Victoria: Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, 2022), online: gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/income-assistance/apply-for-assistance [perma.cc/SV9Y-FBP9]; British Columbia, Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, "Disability Assistance" (Victoria: Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction, 2022), online: gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social- supports/services-for-people-with-disabilities/disability-assistance [perma.cc/AU8B-4DNS]; Canada, Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development, "Old Age Security Overview" (Ottawa: Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development, 2022), online: canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/old-age-security.html [perma.cc/5PTW-ALRG]; Canada, Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development, "Guaranteed Income Supplement What these Benefits Offer" (Ottawa: Ministry of Families, Children and Social Development, 2022), online: canada.ca/en/services/benefits/publicpensions/cpp/old-age-security/guaranteed-income-supplement.html [perma.cc/H4RF-FUDZ].
51 See e.g. Sara Sternberg Greene, "Race, Class, and Access to Civil Justice" (2016) 101:4 Iowa L Rev 1263; Rebecca L.Sandefur, "Access to Civil Justice and Race, Class, and Gender Inequality" (2008) 34:1 Annual Review of Sociology 339 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134534; Janet E Mosher, "Lessons in Access to Justice: Racialized Youths in Ontario's Safe Schools" (2008)46:4 Osgoode Hall LJ 807 https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.1175; Elizabeth Adjin-Tettey, "Replicating and Perpetuating Inequalities in Personal Injury Claims through Female-Specific Contingencies" (2004) 49:2 McGill LJ 309.
52 See e.g. Gerry Veenstra & Andrew C Patterson, "Black-White Health Inequalities in Canada" (2016) 18:1 Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health 51 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-014-0140-6; Katherine L Frohlich, Nancy Ross, & Chantelle Richmond, "Health Disparities in Canada Today: Some Evidence and a Theoretical Framework" (2006) 79 Health Policy 132 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2005.12.010; Sara Allin, Miche lGrignon, & Julian Le Grand, "Subjective Unmet Need and Utilization of Health Care Services in Canada: What Are the Equity Implications?" (2010) 70:3 Social Science & Medicine 465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.10.027
53 See e.g. Udo Kelle, "'Emergence' vs. 'Forcing' of Empirical Data? A Crucial Problem of 'Grounded Theory' Reconsidered" (2005) 6:2 Forum: Qualitative Social Research.
54 For further discussion on the points made here, see Emma Cunliffe, "(This Is Not a) Story: Using Court Records to Explore Judicial Narratives in R. v Kathleen Folbigg" (2007) 21:1 Australian Feminist Law Journal 71 https://doi.org/10.1080/13200968.2007.10854386; Emily C Bishop & Marie L Shepherd, "Ethical Reflections: Examining Reflexivity Through the Narrative Paradigm" (2011) 21:9 Qualitative Health Research 1283 https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732311405800; Anne E Pezalla, Jonathan Pettigrew, & Michelle Miller-Day, "Researching the Researcher-as-Instrument: An Exercise in Interviewer Self-Reflexivity" (2012) 12:2 Qualitative Research 165. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794111422107
55 Pezalla, Pettigrew, & Miller, supra note 54 at 166 [emphasis in original].
56 Legal needs surveys often employ in-depth surveys with a sub-set of the total survey group. But few of these have focussed explicitly on the decision-making process and factors that influenced how people responded to justiciable problems. There has been notable socio-legal research that has employed qualitative interviews to understand aspects of how people encounter legality. See e.g. Ewick & Silbey, "The Common Place of Law," supra note 3
57 Sara, "Interview of Sara" (7 November 2016) via oral communication [communicated to author].
58 Justine, "Interview of Justine" (9 June 2016) via oral communication [communicated to author].
59 Mia, "Interview of Mia" (22 July 2016) via oral communication [communicated to author].
60 Sara, "Interview of Sara," supra note 57.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Ibid.
65 Ibid. This was also true for interviews with George, Anthony, and Chris.
66 Supra note 41.
67 Ibid.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid. Sydney Crosby is a well-known and successful professional hockey player.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Ibid.
75 There is a rich literature on the relationship among luck, welfare, and equality. See e.g. Michael Otsuka, "Justice as Fairness: Luck Egalitarian, Not Rawlsian" (2010) 14:3/4 Journal of Ethics 217. A detailed discussion of this literature is beyond the scope of this paper. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-010-9081-z
76 Justine, "Interview of Justine," supra note 58.
77 Ibid.
78 Ibid.
79 Ibid.
80 Ibid.
81 Ibid.
82 Ibid.
83 Ibid.
84 Mia, "Interview of Mia," supra note 59.
85 Ibid.
86 Ibid.
87 Ibid.
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid.
94 Ibid.
95 Ibid.
96 See Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24; Kritzer, supra note 7 at 13.
97 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24 at 3.
98 Ibid.
99 George, "Interview of George" (12 May 2016) via oral communication [communicated to author] [George interview].
100 Ibid.
101 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24.
102 George, "Interview of George," supra note 99.
103 Ibid.
104 Ibid.
105 George described "a bit of out of pocket expense," but was ultimately able to secure financial support through government benefit programs.
106 Justine, "Interview of Justine," supra note 58.
107 Kritzer, supra note 7.
108 Reimers, Balmer & Pleasence, supra note 24 at 5.
109 Ibid at 6.
110 Legal Problems, supra note 1 at 55; Rebecca L Sandefur, "Accessing Justice in the Contemporary USA: Findings from the Community Needs and Services Study" (8 August 2014), online (pdf): American Bar Foundation americanbarfoundation.org/uploads/cms/documents/sandefur_accessing_justice_in_the_contemporary_usa._aug._ 2014.pdf [perma.cc/WLD2-C9PL] at 11 [Accessing Justice]
111 Sandefur "Accessing Justice" supra note 110.
112 Though some research in China and Japan has focussed on how social or family connections can facilitate use of the legal system. See Reimers, Balmer, & Pleasance, supra note 24 at 4. In addition, some recent research has highlighted the importance of "trusted intermediaries" and "community justice helpers" in facilitating improved access to justice; See e.g. Julie Mathews & David Wiseman, Community Justice Help: Advancing Community-Based Access to Justice (Toronto: Community Legal Education Ontario, 2020).
113 A Patel, N J Balmer, & P Pleasence, "Geography of Advice Seeking" (2008) 39:6 Geoforum 2084 at 2089-2092. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2008.07.004
114 Justine, "Interview of Justine," supra note 58.
115 Ibid.
116 Alex, "Interview of Alex" (July 21, 2016) via oral communication [communicated to author].
117 Ibid.
118 See interviews with George, Michael, Justine, Anthony, Pat, Chris, and Sara.
119 Sara, "Interview of Sara," supra note 57.
120 Justine, "Interview of Justine," supra note 58.
121 Mia, "Interview of Mia," supra note 59.
122 Ibid.
123 Ibid. The other interview participant who reported being satisfied was Michael, who also drew on his social network - in the form of a friend who had been through a similar type of benefits problem - in order to deal with the problem relatively effectively.
124 Trevor CW Farrow, "What Is Access to Justice?" (2014) 51:3 Osgoode Hall LJ 957 at 983. https://doi.org/10.60082/2817-5069.2761
125 Mathews and Wiseman, supra note 112.
126 Emily S Taylor Poppe, "Institutional Design for Access to Justice" (2021) 11:3 UC Irvine L Rev 781.
127 See e.g. Sandefur, "What We Know and Need to Know," supra note 1.
128 See e.g. Sheila O'Hare & Sanda Erdelez, "Legal Information Acquisition by the Public: The Role of Personal and Environmental Factors" (2017) 54:1 Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology 298 at 300 (noting that research on information acquisition by legal consumers is "almost nonexistent" and contrasting this with the significant research on information acquisition by health information seekers). https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.2017.14505401033
