Justice can only be achieved when those who have no power are put on an equal footing with those who have power.
I don’t know who first said this. It was probably Cicero or someone along those lines. I know it didn’t come from any of the institutional sponsors of BC’s so-called Access to Justice Week. I’m sure the bright lights positing novel approaches in distinct areas of the law will have some good ideas. Overall though the constant silence from each of the sponsoring institutions about the calamitous power shift away from individuals hurt by the actions of others is appalling. There has been a scandalous shift of power away from innocent individuals whose lives have been up-ended by bad drivers. ICBC used to have a great deal of power but individuals had the right to hire a lawyer and challenge that power. That power has been taken away. ICBC now has near total power. All the Access to Justice rhetoric in the world doesn’t alter this simple fact. There will be an awful lot of people in BC upset when they get hurt and then can’t get justice.
