The Law Foundation of Ontario has distributed more than $700,000 in grants to fund projects under its “Measuring Impacts and Progress” initiative, which aims to utilize research on data collection and access to justice in order to improve the Ontario justice system.
According to the announcement dated Nov. 26, these research projects, which were financed through the foundation’s strategic granting program, target specific issues in the justice system, including gaps in data and metrics, obstacles to the free flow of information acquired, as well as a lack of understanding with regard to how the justice system works and how it can do better.
“As a sector, we are still a long way from where we need to be in capturing data, sharing it, and analyzing it to make decisions,” said Tanya Lee, who has served as the CEO of the foundation since 2015. She added that, unless the sector can improve the current situation, it cannot make the right choices to address the many challenges present in the Ontario justice system today.