Foreword

by Gordon Proudfoot, Q. C
President, Canadian Bar Association
June 1996

The Canadian Bar Association commends the John Howard Society of Canada for its efforts in raising the issue of limited literacy and the court system. Limited literacy hampers people in their efforts to recognize and solve legal problems and to gain access to justice. This booklet will help raise awareness that the written and spoken exchanges among lawyers, judges, and those with whom they work are often inaccessible to those not familiar with those forms of expression. This booklet points out in practical ways how to address this serious situation. In doing so, barriers will be broken down for people who lack literacy skills, and as a result they will be able to more fully exercise their social and legal rights.