Marla Williams remembered the intense fear she felt last year when faced with heading to court.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” she told a large group of dignitaries, including Ontario’s attorney-general and the chief justice of the Ontario Court of Justice, who assembled to celebrate the opening of the London Justice Centre at Joan’s Place – the new permanent home for an innovative approach to court.

“I was really scared because I honestly thought I had to go down to the big courthouse. And I was freshly 18, I was very scared. I’ve never dealt with the law before.”

But instead of standing in a traditional courtroom at 80 Dundas Street, Williams was linked to the Community Justice Centre, an Ontario Court of Justice program that began in London five years ago and was the first of its

See Full Page