Accesso alla giustizia e modelli partecipativi in Canada: spunti di riflessione per l’Italia

This paper provides a brief description of the model of participatory justice that is emerging in Canada. Participatory justice promotes new forms of conflict resolution, based on the voluntariness and confidentiality, as well as the participation of all parties to the management of conflict. The 2003 Canadian Law Commission’s report on «Transforming Relationships Through Participatory Justice» underscores the political effort and spirit of reform that are guiding policies towards a justice system which is both more satisfactory and more suitable to the needs of citizens. In the Report the expression «participatory justice» refers to two forms of justice: restorative justice and consensus-based justice. The first one refers to a process for resolving conflicts between victim and offender in criminal matters; the second one refers to methods for resolving conflicts in civil matters (i.e. commercial and familiar). The Canadian model provides an answer to the crisis in the contemporary adjudicative systems based on ABSTRACT 219 the public and formal processes, and at the same time illustrates a legal paradigm shift: from a decision-based model to a participation-based one. In 2010 Italian legislator introduced mediation as an alternative form of dispute resolution in civil and commercial matters in order to reduce the burden of the Courts. This reform has not been successful so far because, unlike in the Canadian situation, the Italian lawmakers have introduced mediation into the civil justice system without reforming the framework of its principles.