Consumers and access to justice : Consommateurs et accès à la justice : un guichet unique pour les consommateurs?

The stronger the shadow they cast, the lower the risk of transacting, the larger the number of transactions, and the lower their cost […] 1.” The ability of citizens, theoretically equal before the law, to assert their supposedly equal rights, is flagrantly unequal. [...] In the second chapter, we review traditional solutions to problems of access to justice, in the light of the justice criteria identified in the preceding chapter. [...] Much of the legitimacy of laws, the justice system and the rule of law depends on the laws applying to everyone equally, and on each individual being treated fairly by the justice system. [...] Access to consumer justice, with the arsenal of remedies in this field, must have the essential purpose of promoting consumer rights a priori and merchants’ adoption of lawful behaviours: the certainty of a price to pay in case of an infraction – for example, the near- assurance that consumers will avail themselves of remedies available to them – then serves as a powerful incentive to behave lawfu [...] The eligibility criteria are so low that the program is of no use to most people; in Quebec, for example, the ceiling has been set to a maximum of $13,007 for a person living alone, and to $21,328 for a family with spouses and children45.