What is a Court?: Lorne Sossin at TEDxYorkU
The speaker argues that the justice system should transition from being housed in physical buildings to being a shared, relational process within the community. This is best illustrated by the model of the Gacaca courts in Rwanda, which emphasized community participation and reconciliation following genocide. The central thesis is that justice must be viewed as a shared project, not merely a legal proceeding confined to courtrooms. ## Speakers & Context - Dean of Osgood Hall Law School; speaker was a student at Osgood for 24 years. - Presented a view on the theme of *tenda Via*, suggesting a path of risk-taking change leading toward the ultimate destination of Justice. ## Theses & Positions - The journey of law must ultimately lead to a destination the community feels constitutes Justice, moving beyond simply letting the law dictate the path. - The system of justice should be designed for the people whose lives are affected, positioning them as the *subject* and not the *object* of the justice process. - A court should never be intended as a physical building with pillars and bricks, but rather a process integrated into people's lives and communities. - The focus should be on prevention—building a railing at the top (preventing falls) rather than only building an ambulance to the bottom of the cliff (reacting to crises). - Justice is inherently a shared project, requiring collective participation in defining its meaning and achieving its goals. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Osgood Hall Law School Motto:** *Trans Ates as through law to Justice*. - **Gacaca:** A court concept used in villages and communities, developed in Rwanda post-genocide, intended to facilitate justice where formal courts could not manage the volume of hearings. - **Subject vs. Object:** Humanity should be the *subject* of the justice process, gaining ownership over its meaning, rather than remaining an *object* acted upon by the system. - **Community Court:** A model (implemented in Vancouver, Canada, starting in 2008) designed to view every incident before it not just as a legal violation, but as a problem requiring community supports or treatment programming. - **Legal Process:** A course taught by the speaker that explores the integration of justice outside formal court settings. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Gacaca Process:** After the 1994 Rwandan massacres, this system allowed communities to handle proceedings, enabling perpetrators and victims to meet, with an accepted apology resulting in a reduced sentence. - **Community Court Approach:** Shifts focus from simple sentencing to identifying and implementing necessary community supports or treatment programs to position individuals for success. - **Truth and Reconciliation Commission Innovation:** A legal process following the settlement of residential schools class actions that focuses not on testimony leading to judgment, but on sharing painful stories to achieve healing and reconciliation. - **Oen (Ontario Justice Education Network):** An initiative that brings together school children, judges, lawyers, and academics to debate complex legal issues outside the courtroom and encourage understanding of others' perspectives. ## Timeline & Sequence - **24 years ago:** Speaker began studying at Osgood Hall Law School. - **1994:** Period of massacres in Rwanda, leading to the development of the Gacaca idea. - **2008:** Houston Ansfield presided over the opening of the first Community Court in Canada, Downtown East Side, Vancouver. - **2011:** Stanley riots prompted the idea for Community Courts due to the "huge overflow of people" from community breakdown. - **Post-Residential Schools:** The Truth and Reconciliation Commission launched a process focused on storytelling for national reconciliation. ## Named Entities - **Osgood Hall Law School:** Institution where the speaker was a student and teaches. - **Rwanda:** Location where the Gacaca court model originated. - **Queen's University:** Location associated with the speaker's relationship to Osgood Hall. - **Vancouver:** Location where the first Community Court in Canada opened in 2008. - **Houston Ansfield:** Late Chief Judge who presided over the first Community Court in Canada. - **Oen (Ontario Justice Education Network):** Organization facilitating justice education outside the courtroom. ## Numbers & Data - Speaker's time as student at Osgood: **24 years**. - Number of prisoners in Rwanda post-1994 massacres: **over 100,000**. - Date of first Community Court in Canada: **2008**. - Year of Stanley riots mentioned: **2011**. - Decade of Oen's activity: **first 10 years** celebrated. ## Examples & Cases - **Gacaca Example:** Conducting justice in villages following massacres in 1994, where an accepted apology led to sentence reduction. - **Osgood Hall Court Example:** Debates occurring there on issues like same-sex marriage, prostitution legality, right to die with dignity, and managing social upheaval. - **Healthcare Analogy:** The flawed approach of only building ambulances to the bottom of the cliff (reacting to crisis) rather than building a railing at the top (prevention). - **Criminal Justice Example:** The Community Court approach aims to solve the underlying problems of an incident rather than just warehousing people who have "fallen over that cliff." - **Truth and Reconciliation Example:** Using shared, painful stories of abuse and healing across a nation as the core mechanism for reconciliation. - **Oen Education Example:** Putting people together to debrief on legal issues, moving them from seeing each other as objects to understanding their shared experience. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The critique of the current formal court system involves lawyers being *"too expensive"* and engaging in *"legal arguments that are too abstract."* - Current courthouses often create a sense of disownership over the moments that happen within them. ## Methodology - **Philosophical Shift:** Re-framing the purpose of the court away from architecture and legal procedure towards community relationship and healing. - **Comparative Model:** Comparing traditional legal proceedings with community-based, trauma-informed models (Gacaca, Community Courts). - **Educational Outreach:** Utilizing forums like Oen to take legal theory and practice out of the courtroom and into academic settings for participatory understanding. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The ideal system of justice is one that is relational, taking ownership of the journey from law to justice as a *shared project*. - The focus must shift from building physical court structures to supporting and healing the community itself. - Engaging the community through initiatives like Oen, conflict resolution, and legal literacy should guide future justice efforts. ## Implications & Consequences - **If prevention is prioritized:** An entirely different understanding of communities and courts can emerge, focusing on healing the source of the problem rather than managing its aftermath. - **Reconciliation:** True national healing (like post-residential schools) requires a process built on shared storytelling rather than judicial testimony. ## Verbatim Moments - *"Trans Ates as through law to Justice."* (Motto) - *"it has to end in a place that we together feel is uh is doing Justice."* - *"the idea of being the subject and not the object of what we take justice to mean."* - *"a court… was never intended to be a building building it was never intended to have pillars and bricks and be cut off from the rest of our lives."* - *"we're worried about getting that ambulance to the bottom of the cliff to put people back together again... rather than focusing on building a railing at the top."* - *"The goal here is not just to sentence people but to take those in the criminal justice system and look at the problem solving that each incident coming before the court in fact represents what community supports what treatment program what ways of integrating someone back into a situation that can position them for Success."* - *"it's not about giving testimony leading to judgment but it's about coming together to share incredibly painful stories of children ripped from homes and communities of pain of abuse of healing of reconciliation."* - *"it's a way of approaching a national project of reconciliation one individual painful story at a time"* - *"taking these ideas out of the courtroom into the classroom taking people who will see each other just as objects and putting them in a position of understanding the shoes each other's each other might walk in."*