People seeking inclusivity usually take an anti-discrimination approach, focusing on marginalized or disadvantaged communities, says Patricia Hughes. However, it may be time to consider a model based on factors that cut across the experience of particular groups.

Dr. Hughes, executive director of the Law Commission of Ontario, will discuss these issues in a free public lecture “Is it time for a new model of inclusivity for achieving access to justice?” Monday, October 21, at noon in the Farmers Conference Room, Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

Those designing ways to improve access to the legal system have focused on Aboriginal communities, racialized persons, women, the LGBTQ communities, persons with disabilities, older adults and others, she says.

“This approach has reflected important links between the characteristics or life circumstances of members of particular groups and their difficulties in … achieving justice,” says Hughes.

However, she is interested in an approach that favours functional disadvantages rather than recognition of exclusion on traditional grounds.

“For example, some members, although not all, of several of these communities may have low literacy skills,” Hughes says. “Understanding how low literacy skills affect access to justice—and perhaps more importantly—how proposals to improve access leave persons with low literacy skills at a disadvantage may allow us to focus on ways of increasing access to justice that the anti-discrimination approach alone does not.”

Hughes’ academic career spans more than 35 years. She has taught at various Canadian universities and written extensively in the areas of constitutional law, dispute resolution and feminist legal theories, as well as in administrative law, labour law and legal education and access to justice. Her lecture is presented by the Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice Distinguished Lecture Series.