Case Study
Bridging the Boundaries: Building Equitable Justice Access
“Bridging the Boundaries” was a community-focused project in British Columbia, Canada from 2021-2022, coordinated by qathet Community Justice and in partnership with the local Indigenous Tla’amin Government and other local justice partners. The goals of the project focused on access to justice and included: 1) supporting Indigenous nations in navigating settler justice institutions, 2) evaluation to identify barriers and inform policy development, and 3) liaising with community partners and existing service providers to encourage a culturally-safe approach to justice.
Just Outcomes Director Catherine Bargen and Associate Michelle Buchholz (Cassyex Consulting) were key leads in the Transformative Evaluation component of this project. Pursuing a relational approach to the evaluation method was critical to ensuring the success and learnings of the project were captured in a good way.
Our team took a Transformative Evaluation approach which revolved around the following priorities:
- Centering Indigenous Voices
- Self-Determination
- Communication
- Relationship Building
- Equity and Anti-Racism
Just Outcomes conducted four workshops throughout the project for the justice partners—three online and one in person. Through both verbal and graphic facilitation, current strengths of the community were identified, while barriers to accessible service and their potential remedies were documented. The justice partners demonstrated a shared passion for supporting the ongoing work of the Tla’amin government and the role of their justice worker in helping overcome barriers for Indigenous and other marginalized peoples in the court system. Together, partners were able to take steps towards dismantling silos and envisioning a more accessible justice system in the qathet region.
By focusing on relationship building and communication between qathet Community Justice and Tla’amin Government, many key learnings were realized. Decolonial ways of working together and receiving feedback from Tla’amin Government and the Tla’amin Nation Justice Worker were key to the project moving forward. The learnings were compiled into a that was submitted to the Federal Government’s Anti-Racism Action Plan (ARAP) initiative. Just Outcomes was subsequently invited by ARAP to provide further education for staff at ARAP on a decolonized approach to Evaluation strategies within government.