Maintaining cultural awareness for partners of justice

Establishing Cultural Competency is necessary for any judicial officer presiding over family law matters to protect against well-intentioned but uninformed rulings. Similarly, practitioners must also contend with cultural differences to ensure they are advocating for their clients’ best interests, and mental health professionals must navigate these distinctions to avoid making harmful recommendations. Thus, all justice partners need to maintain their cultural awareness to fulfill the moral obligations of their professional oaths.

All bench officers, practitioners, and mental health professionals have their own lived experiences, and while those may sometimes align with the experiences of the litigants they work with, that is not always the case. This seminar helps all parties make connections to foreign situations and allows for greater clarity in applying case law to unique instances where the facts seem wholly unrecognizable. While the subject matter this seminar covers is only a small piece of an ongoing conversation, it serves as an entry point to establishing more nuanced rulings that account for cultural differences to ensure equitable decisions that uphold the legal framework we must abide by.

Having participated in this seminar at its inception 11 years ago as a family law practitioner, and continuing thereafter as a bench officer, it has afforded me the opportunity to learn and grow in my understanding of litigants’ needs. By addressing the root causes of our litigants’ complaints, we can provide outcomes that reduce the number of times they return to our courtrooms, and restore some harmony to our communities.