Law Commission of Canada Annual Report 1999-2000: Relationships.

Source: (2000) Ottawa: Law Commission of Canada. Downloaded 13 January 2005.

Can the idea of transformative justice better shape
how law recognizes diverse social relationships, conceives
communities as areas of shared interest, and reconciles
the competing demands of individual identity and
group identities?
In Canada’s socio-demographically diverse society, more people are
identifying themselves both as members of society as a whole and
as members of groups and communities. They are finding recognition
and purpose in the groups and communities with which they
choose to be associated, or to which they are assigned by others. In
this they acknowledge how much their personal identity is made up
of identities formed in relationships with others.
Modern law deals uneasily with these overlapping identities.
It focuses on individuals and takes a narrow view of which group
identities and communal relationships are legitimate. Only rarely do
legal concepts even recognize group identity as an element of personal
identity. Especially where community membership and affiliation
reflect cultural differences, Canadian law has difficulty both in providing
equal access to justice and in responding to alternative visions of
what justice entails. (excerpt)