3.    As was noted by the Canadian Bar Association Task Force, much of spoken communication in the law, including communication in the courtroom, is based on and refers to the printed word or written language. The disability from lack of literacy is often carried from the written word to the spoken word. 4.    Not all counsel who represent those lacking in literacy skills will adequately represent their clients because of that limitation.
The Role of the Judge
		Judges are committed to ensuring access, fairness, equality and respect in the administration and delivery of justice in the courtrooms over which they preside. That is not judicial "activism". That is the quintessential role of the judge. In performing that role, it is important for a judge to note that while lady justice is blindfolded, she is not unconscious. If we as judges perform according to what we are, and if we are what we have been, we should be consciously aware of the limitations and narrowness of our experience, including the experience of literacy and the richness of opportunity that literacy gives. Because of literacy problems, access, fairness, equality and respect in the administration and delivery of justice are significantly at risk unless we as judges are consciously aware of the existence of such problems, their manifestations, and the limitations which systemically occur because there is in the entire administration of justice a natural bias favouring literacy and those who enjoy it.

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