As part of its Families First Agenda, the British Columbia government has announced that it will soon expand its Justice Access Centres (JACs) beyond Vancouver and Nanaimo.  

The current JACs arose from a holistic service concept where government and self-help legal services are supplemented by legal aid services and non-governmental services (legal and non-legal) in a single location in or near a courthouse.  In the Vancouver JAC at 800 Hornby Street, for example, Access Pro Bono operates several Summary Advice Program clinics, the Paralegal Program and the Wills Clinic Project in coordination with mediation services, debt counselling services, self-help services and several other legal and non-legal services.  

More information on the JACs is available here.

The News Release from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Family and Child Development is available here.