Access to Justice

This project aims to raise awareness and provide public legal education on gender based violence (GBV) prevention as a key policy action to reduce and prevent GBV. Its goal is to change social norms, attitudes, and behaviours, addressing the root causes and risk factors of GBV to ultimately end its devastating impacts. The Law Society of Nunavut will coordinate efforts to bring together various Nunavut organizations—both directly and indirectly involved in violence prevention—through collaborative awareness-raising and information sharing.

Resource Handbook

The lack of clear communication pathways between service providers leads to preventable delays when supporting victims and survivors of GBV, creating delays and unnecessarily prolonging suffering. Collaborating with key partners and stakeholders, the Law Society of Nunavut has taken the lead on facilitating the creation of a “Resource Handbook”. This tool aims to facilitate change within the justice system to address GBV by establishing and maintaining open lines of communication between multi-level service providers. All information will be updated bi-annually to ensure the resource remains accurate and relevant.

Currently, we have published our Ottawa and Montreal handbooks, with launches for Nunavut, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Yellowknife to take place in the fall of 2025. 

Access to Justice Website

Launched in October 2024, our new A2J website, Uqaqatigiinniq, will feature information on past and current A2J projects, a library of our public legal information resources, and an interactive database of community contacts as part of our Resource Handbook project. The website reinforces the important message that all Nunavummiut, whether at home or at work, have the right to live free from violence, abuse, harassment, and discrimination.

A2J Community Visits

Through our A2J community visits, we connect members of the justice system with communities across Nunavut to promote legal education and GBV prevention. This includes engaging students in school-based activities and mock trials and offering public legal information workshops.

In 2024, the LSN and our partners engaged over 1,000 Nunavummiut, providing PLEI workshops, legal advice, youth-focused activities, and mock trials in the communities of Rankin Inlet, Baker Lake, Cambridge Bay, Gjoa Haven, Pond Inlet, and Arctic Bay.

We’re excited to expand our reach to more communities, continue supporting GBV prevention, and create greater access to legal information and support for all Nunavummiut.

This project aims to raise public awareness in Nunavut about harassment and violence in the workplace, and what to do about it. This includes sexual harassment, discrimination-based harassment, and gender-based violence in the workplace.

In coordination with participating communities, in-person workshops using a Nunavut-specific trauma-informed approach are being offered in various communities to help people recognize:

• what workplace harassment and violence is
• what their legal rights are (as well as what their employers’ responsibilities are)
• what they can do about it
• Inuit-specific mental wellness tips while going through these processes

In addition to workshops, pro-bono legal clinics are also available for any community members seeking one-on-one consultations with a lawyer.

Public legal education and information resources are also being developed as part of this project, including videos, posters, audio programs, booklets, resource sheets, and a guide for employers.

Visit our A2J website to view our library of public legal education and information resources.

In the spring of 2019, the Law Society of Nunavut and Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada (Pauktuutit) joined forces to undertake a project that would break the silence on family violence in Nunavut. 

Funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Department of Justice Canada, this project involves a research study and an awareness campaign on the Family Abuse Intervention Act (FAIA). FAIA was created in Nunavut, based on Inuit principles and values, to prevent family abuse by providing Nunavummiut with the opportunity to get different types of orders to deal with family abuse, including Emergency Protection Orders against the abuser, and Community Intervention Orders.

The goal of this project is to understand the legal barriers and needs of Inuit women dealing with family violence in Nunavut.

Project Objectives

• Support Nunavummiut in recognizing family violence
• Provide Nunavummiut with a better understanding of what they can do to deal with family violence, including available options
• Understand how the Family Abuse Intervention Action is, or is not, meeting the needs of Inuit women deal with domestic abuse
• Open dialogue amongst Nunavummiut about what constitutes family violence, how to recognize family violence and what can be done to address family violence

The project consists of a research study that informed an awareness campaign launched in March 2021. The research study component of this project builds more evidence on what is known on how the implementation of the Family Abuse Intervention Act  is, or is not, meeting the needs of Inuit women experiencing family violence.

Read the Final Report on Access to Justice on Family Violence in Nunavut launched on March 8, 2022:  English; Inuktitut.

The Family Abuse Support Program – Toolkit and Training

As an extension of the LSN’s FAIA research study and awareness campaign, this initiative aims to create a web-based training platform featuring relevant content, resources, presentations, and curricula for both professionals and the public on the topic of family violence prevention. Topics covered in the training include: Safety planning, emergency protection orders, community intervention orders, stalking, and Elder abuse.

The toolkit will launch in Spring 2025 with an in-person training held in Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet.