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NEWSLETTER – Fall 2025

Over five years have now passed since the Action Committee on Modernizing Court Operations was established to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since it last met, the Action Committee finished the work it had planned for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, started to work on its new annual workplan, and produced an annual report outlining its accomplishments. In addition, the Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, joined the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, Chief Justice of Canada, as co-chair of the Action Committee, attending his first meeting in October 2025.

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RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • Role of Indigenous Courtworkers in Family Law or Child Welfare Proceedings: Building on the Action Committee’s previous publication on Indigenous Courtworkers (ICWs) in criminal matters, this publication examines the role of ICWs in family law and child welfare matters. In this context, ICWs facilitate interaction between Indigenous people and family justice or child welfare system participants by helping Indigenous clients navigate the family justice system, understand their rights, and access legal and social resources. ICWs also assist courts by providing insight into Indigenous values, customs, language, socio-economic conditions and lived experiences, ensuring decisions consider the best interests of Indigenous children.  
  • Working With Indigenous Courtworkers – Useful Tips(Updated): Collaborating effectively with Indigenous Courtworkers can help create a more welcoming, inclusive and accessible environment for Indigenous court users and help ensure that these users’ unique cultural values, their experiences, and the challenges they have historically faced in accessing the Canadian justice system are properly considered. This publication, which was originally drafted to offer practical insights on how judges and justice actors can collaborate effectively with Indigenous Courtworkers to enable them to assist both their clients and the courts most efficiently in criminal proceedings, has now been expanded to include family and child welfare matters as well.
  • Indigenous Elders in the Courts: It is likely courts will interact with Indigenous Elders or Knowledge Keepers either as participants in litigation or as interested parties in any initiative aimed at reconciliation and improving Indigenous people’s experiences in the justice system. Everyone can benefit if those in the system understand Elders’ importance in their communities and what they can offer to the court system. This guidance outlines the different ways courts might work with Elders and Knowledge Keepers and provides considerations to help judges and court administrators engage with them in respectful and culturally appropriate ways.
  • Artificial Intelligence in Common Legal Research Tools: Managing the risks associated with the use of Artificial Intelligence in the legal context requires understanding how tools commonly used by courts and court users incorporate this technology. This publication provides information to court users on how three commonly used legal research tools use AI to enhance their The publication is not meant as an endorsement of the specific tools.
  • Meeting the Diverse Needs of Court Users – Orienting Principles: Equitable court modernization requires an approach that acknowledges, makes room for, and responds to the needs of all who are seeking justice. This publication consolidates the Action Committee’s previous guidance in this domain and shifts its focus beyond the pandemic-specific lens in which it was originally drafted. In doing so, it provides key principles to help those working in the courts build their understanding of court users to both better meet the needs of those they serve and incorporate their diverse perspectives into all innovations.

 

WHO WE ARE

The Action Committee on Modernizing Court Operations is a national leadership body that supports Canada’s courts in their modernization efforts. The Committee provides non-prescriptive, practical guidance for addressing challenges, and highlights opportunities and innovative practices to modernize court operations and improve access to justice for court users at all levels of Canadian courts, in all types of court matters. It also identifies areas of further study that may interest policymakers, academics, and training providers in the field of court operations.

The Action Committee is co-chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Honourable Sean Fraser. Its members include senior representatives of the judiciary and ministries responsible for Justice from various Canadian jurisdictions. The Committee is supported by an Indigenous Advisory Group to enrich the Action Committee’s work by ensuring that Indigenous perspectives are accurately reflected, and a Technical Working Group to ensure that national perspectives are reflected.

The Action Committee welcomes feedback, and relies upon collaborative information sharing, to inform its work on relevant topics. Contact us at AC-secretariat-CA@fja-cmf.gc.ca.