International

Our Vision: "Building stronger communities by promoting understanding of, access to, and confidence in justice systems, at home and abroad."

Over the past 20 years, the Justice Education Society has been involved in international projects relating "good governance and democratic institution building." Good governance is increasingly being recognized as a critical factor in addressing poverty. Fazle Abed founder and head of BRAC, the biggest NGO in the world, says that better governance is the most urgent priority for those who wish to address the problems of mass poverty.

"I would say that, right now, if we had better governance, all the other problems could be solved faster. Schools would improve faster. Health problems. So I would put governance at the centre of things for most countries." In short, Abed said, "All sorts of things happen when you institutionalize good governance."

Fazle Abed founder and chairperson of BRAC

Read more in a recent Vancouver Sun article.

The Justice Education Society’s International Programs work in various regions of the world to strengthen the capacities of the justice system – a fundamental component of good governance. The Justice Education Society relies on the best international practices and adapts them to different countries and social contexts. Region-specific programming has been developed to create expertise in building local capacity in civil society and the formal justice system. The overall intent is to develop local capacity and to then integrate this into the ongoing operational work of our justice system partners.

“As a direct result of the (telephone interception) course, Guatemala's new capabilities in electronic eavesdropping have directly supported police in successful efforts to break up extortion gangs, frustrate kidnapping attempts, and have even led to the freeing of kidnap victims… The wiretap work has been successful in our country, and Canada has played a leading role.”

Judge Marco Antonio Villeda, Guatemala,
judicial participant in April 2009 Canadian (JES) wiretap course