METRAC’s Community Justice Program provides access to legal information, particularly to vulnerable women, including women with disabilities, rural women, older women, Deaf women, and Immigrant and Refugee women. The Justice Program offers a unique perspective in its work as it seeks to understand how different legislation and legal practices can impact diverse women and children, especially those experiencing violence.

We offer easy-to-understand information to victims of violence, service providers, and the general public on legal issues that women who have experienced violence face. We develop and present accessible workshops, train-the-trainer sessions, and written materials on a wealth of topics, including:

• Child protection
• Stalking/criminal harassment
• Rights for young mothers and older women
• Sexual assault and harassment
• Family law
• Immigration and Refugee law

The Justice Program established the Ontario Women’s Justice Network website, which serves as a vital source of information for women and service providers across Canada. It demystifies the legal system for women and children experiencing violence.

Over the years, METRAC’s Community Justice Program initiated and has been active in many important efforts to improve the legal system to work better for women and children seeking justice. Some of this work has been in the areas of stalking (criminal harassment) legislation, sexual assault legislation, and religious arbitration.