Episode 94: Transforming the Family Justice System: Continuing to Innovate to Support Family Well-Being
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Episode 94: Transforming the Family Justice System: Continuing to Innovate to Support Family Well-Being
Broadcast Date: October 3, 2024
SUMMARY
In this episode, host Christine O’Doherty is joined by special guests Tina Parbhakar, Amy Schwab, and Jane Morley, K.C., to explore the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative, an innovative initiative in British Columbia, launched in 2022. As key contributors to this groundbreaking user-centred initiative, the guests share their insights on efforts to redesign the family justice system. Together, they discuss strategies for enhancing child and youth participation, fostering cross-sector collaboration, using developmental and transformational evolution approaches and developing creative solutions for families. Their conversation offers a deep dive into the ongoing collective impact work to make family justice more accessible, inclusive, and responsive.
Guests
- Jane Morley, K.C., Former Strategic Coordinator of Access to Justice BC & Former Lead of the cross-sectoral Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative
- Tina Parbhakar, Strategic Coordinator, Access to Justice BC (A2JBC)
- Amy Schwab, Collaborative Lead for the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative, Access to Justice BC (A2JBC)
Host
- Christine O’Doherty, Lawyer & Executive Director, CIAJ
BIOGRAPHIES
- Jane Morley, K.C., Former Strategic Coordinator of Access to Justice BC & Former Lead of the cross-sectoral Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative
Jane Morley KC was the first Strategic Coordinator of Access to Justice BC from 2015- 2021, and until recently, the lead of the cross-sectoral Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative, initiated and led by Access to Justice BC. She continues to work on some of the Collaborative projects that she was instrumental in getting off the ground.
Jane is a lawyer by profession, a mediator by inclination and a leader of organizational and social change by calling. She has served in many professional and public positions, including Governor and Chair of the Law Foundation of BC, the BC Child and Youth Officer (an independent child advocacy role in BC), Commissioner of the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada and an adjudicator for the Indian Residential Schools Independent Assessment Program. In 2018, she received the Susanna Jani award for Excellence in Mediation.
- Tina Parbhakar, Strategic Coordinator, Access to Justice BC (A2JBC)
Tina Parbhakar is the Strategic Coordinator for Access to Justice British Columbia (A2JBC). She holds a MPA and LLB from the University of Victoria. She is a lawyer and, between 2010 and 2022, practiced predominantly in the areas of civil and family law. She is an avid volunteer with the Canadian Bar Association and the Urban Native Youth Association. She has also been involved with the North Shore Restorative Justice Society and the BC Trauma Informed Practice Project to support the use of multi-disciplinary and strengths-based approaches. As a Co-founder of the South Asian Legal Clinic of British Columbia (SALCBC), Tina seeks to lower the cultural, social and linguistic barriers many face in accessing justice.
- Amy Schwab, Collaborative Lead for the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative, Access to Justice BC (A2JBC)
Amy Schwab is the Collaborative Lead for the Transform the Family Justice System Collaborative under A2JBC. She is Anishinaabe Métis on her maternal side (Lequire) and German (Schwab) on her paternal side. She is a lawyer and completed her JD in the Indigenous Legal Studies Program in 2020 at Peter A. Allard School of Law. Amy co-teaches Animal Law at Allard School of Law. Her legal background is primarily in criminal law, and administrative law. Amy articled for the UBC Innocence Project, Pender Litigation, and completed a secondment with Prisoners’ Legal Services. Prior to working as the Collaborative Lead, Amy worked as an Advocate and Program Manager in the Downtown Eastside with the Atira Legal Advocacy Program.
- Christine O’Doherty, Lawyer & Executive Director, CIAJ
Christine O’Doherty has been CIAJ’s Executive Director since 2017. A bilingual lawyer experienced in professional, labour and commercial law, she has contributed to developing and implementing effective government relations and public affairs strategies for a number of major organizations. Ms. O’Doherty has taught at the Faculté de pharmacie de l’Université de Montréal for 14 years, where she was responsible for the implementation of the soft skills curriculum for graduate and undergraduate students. In her spare time she writes fiction.
RELATED DOCUMENTATION
National Justice Education Society website (that is being updated for re-launch in early 2025): https://familieschange.ca/
Visit transformfamilyjusticebc.ca. Any feedback is welcome, which can be sent to contact@accesstojusticebc.ca
2024 Annual Conference on “Families and the Law”:
- Webpage: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/upcoming-programs/2024-annual-conference/
- Program: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/wp-content/uploads/events/2022/05/brochure_2024-annual-conference_en.pdf
- Registration form: https://www.imakeanonlinedonation.org/ciaj-icaj/P333/
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