Welcome to Courting Change, a self-guided course on feminist strategic litigation (FSL), a systems-change strategy that uses the courts to address issues impacting survivors* and their communities. In this 7-part course, you’ll learn:
- What feminist strategic litigation is
- Why you should do it
- How to do it
Begin the course
Please note that this course contains general legal information. It is not legal advice for a specific legal problem. If you are looking for legal advice or representation, please visit our Legal Resources page.
Who should take this course?
This course is geared towards people working in the gender-based violence sector, but anyone who is interested in using the courts to drive systemic change can benefit from it.
The course is comprised of the following modules:
- Module 1: What is feminist strategic litigation (FSL)?
- Module 2: Why should you do FSL?
- Module 3: What can participating in FSL look like?
- Module 4: Doing FSL: Bringing a case
- Module 5: Doing FSL: Intervening
- Module 6: Doing FSL: Testifying
- Module 7: Doing FSL: Supporting
Note: We acknowledge that engaging with the courts, especially if you are a survivor, can be extremely challenging and fraught, and often requires substantial resources (including time and emotional labour) due to the nature of Canada’s legal system. Our aim with this course is to build awareness about FSL as one tool that can be used to push for systemic change so that people are equipped with knowledge if they ever choose to do it. We recognize that FSL is just one strategy among many that survivors and GBV advocates can and are already using to fight for a more just world.
Acknowledgements
This course was developed as part of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund’s (LEAF’s) Strengthening Community Capacity Project. LEAF acknowledges the support of Women and Gender Equality Canada.
We would like to thank participating organizations for their many contributions to this project and for their commitment to ending gender-based violence in Canada.
We also thank the following individuals for their contributions to the Strengthening Community Capacity Project: Adriel Weaver, Alexandra Beck, Anastasia Reklitis, Annie Ding, Audrey Parent, Bonnie Brayton, Cass Spade, Crystal Giesbrecht, Dalya Israel, Deepa Mattoo, Ena Chadha, Erin Lee, Frances Chapman, Geneviève Therrien, Goodworks Consulting, James Malekzadeh, Jo-Anne Dusel, Kimberly Potter, Lana MacLean, Leah Simeone, Liliane Tshiama Kalonji, Miranda Pilipchuk, Nathalie Léger, Nicole Jowett, Paige Jung, Roya DelSol, Sameeha Khan, Sunny Marriner, Suzanne Zaccour, Viveca Ellis, Xue Xu, and our workshop focus group members.
*We use the term survivor to refer to individuals who have experienced gender-based violence (GBV). We acknowledge that not everyone who has experienced GBV may identify as a survivor.