The Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA) has launched a training program for justice navigators! Here’s what to expect and how to get started.
We at CPLEA are excited to announce the launch of the Legal Foundations for Justice Navigators program! This free program aims to equip justice navigators with legal information and education to support their work in helping Albertans.
Who is a justice navigator?
We define a justice navigator as a non-lawyer who supports Albertans with legal issues.
A justice navigator may be a social worker, librarian, settlement worker, teacher, court worker, among many other jobs. Helping Albertans with legal issues may be a small part of their job or the whole purpose of their job.
We want to emphasize that not all justice navigators are the same. The term “justice navigator” is becoming more widely used by many different organizations to describe many different roles. A justice navigator at one organization may have a completely different role than a justice navigator at another organization.
Supporting an essential role
Justice navigators play an essential role in helping Albertans by spotting legal issues, sharing relevant legal information and referring for more support.
Legal issues are a common part of everyday life, whether in work, finances, housing, or relationships. When a problem arises, people often turn to trusted community agencies. This means justice navigators are a first point of contact for many people facing legal issues. Because of this, it’s important for justice navigators to have a base level of legal knowledge to provide meaningful support and know when more help is needed.
Through consultations with justice navigators across Alberta, we consistently heard there is a need for organized, accessible legal education for non-lawyers. We designed the Legal Foundations for Justice Navigators program to meet that need by providing justice navigators with the knowledge and skills to support their clients with confidence while staying within the scope of their role.
What will participants learn?
Though the work of justice navigators varies across sectors and between agencies, we’ve identified five core competencies. We believe all justice navigators should understand the following:
- The difference between legal information and legal advice
- How Canada’s legal system works, including sources of law, levels of court and the role of administrative tribunals
- Common everyday legal issues and the laws that apply to those issues
- Best practices for referring clients for more help
- Options for getting legal help in Alberta
The program equips participants to meet these core competencies through six program-wide learning outcomes. After completing the program, participants will be able to:
- Describe and apply the difference between legal information and legal advice
- Describe everyday common legal issues and provide basic legal information about those issues
- Identify when their client has a legal issue
- Effectively advocate for their client
- Identify options for resolving common legal issues
- Know when and where to send their client for more legal help
How is the program structured?
The program currently consists of a series of twelve online, self-directed learning modules. Each module takes between 60 and 90 minutes to complete.
While we intend for participants to complete all twelve modules, participants may complete whichever modules they choose. Participants will receive a completion certificate for each module.
There are three foundational modules about the legal system that we suggest all justice navigators complete:
- Legal Info vs. Legal Advice
- Advocate for Your Client
- Canadian Legal System
There are nine modules about substantive areas of law:
- Abuse and Protection
- Capacity & Decision-Making
- Civil Law
- Consumer & Debt Law
- Criminal Law
- Employment Law
- Family Law
- Immigration Law
- Tenancy Law
How did we create the program?
We wanted to create this program for justice navigators with the help of justice navigators. We took the following steps to create each module in the program:
- Consult with a community agency to identify learning needs about the topic
- Draft the module content
- Share the draft module content with the same community agency for their review and comment
- Update the draft content accordingly
- Send the draft content to a legal professional to review for legal accuracy
- Update the draft content accordingly
- Invite a potential user to complete the draft module and provide feedback on user experience and content, as well as suggest improvements
- Update the draft module accordingly and publish
We are very grateful to all our agency partners, legal reviewers and user testers for their support and contributions.
As always, we thank the Alberta Law Foundation, the Department of Justice Canada and the Alberta Real Estate Foundation for the core funding that makes programs like this possible.
How to get started
Participants can get started in three easy steps:
- Visit our program website.
- Click the Login button to register for an account.
- Enroll in and complete any or all modules.
We want this program to meet the learning needs of justice navigators across the province. At the end of each module, we invite participants to complete a survey about their experience with the module.
Coming in 2027: Communities of practice
CPLEA envisions a Part II to this project – communities of practice. We know many justice navigators possess extensive knowledge and experience. We aim to create a safe and productive space for peer-led sharing as well as opportunities for learning about specialized topics. This portion may consist of webinars and an online forum.
We hope to launch communities of practice in 2027.
Connect with us
If you have questions or comments about the program, we invite you to fill out our contact form or email navigatortraining@cplea.ca to connect with our team.
Looking for more information?
Looking for articles like this one to be delivered right to your inbox? SUBSCRIBE NOW!
DISCLAIMER The information in this article was correct at time of publishing. The law may have changed since then. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of LawNow or the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.
About Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta
