A large cut to legal-aid funding from Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government will leave some of the province’s most vulnerable and impoverished people without proper representation in court, lawyers warn, while also slashing Legal Aid Ontario’s budget for refugee and immigration cases by two-thirds.
“It’s just straight-out catastrophic," said legal-aid lawyer Dana Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Society of United Professionals, the union representing 350 Legal Aid Ontario lawyers.
The chief executive of Legal Aid Ontario, David Field, says the provincial government also told his agency on Thursday that it can no longer spend any Ontario money on refugee or immigration cases. It’s the latest move in a feud between Queen’s Park and Ottawa over the issue, which has seen Ontario demand that the federal government pay the full cost of providing legal aid to refugee claimants.
For its other duties – which range from staffing bail hearings with duty counsel to contracting lawyers for criminal, family and other cases – Legal Aid Ontario is now grappling with how to do more with less. Mr. Field would not speculate on whether layoffs would result: “We’re just trying to digest and trying to come up with some options on how we are going to live within this envelope."
Lawyers can bill their clients. Taxpayers have had enough.
I hate this guy! Can't wait for him to leave!
... and Stephen Harper took away all of the court funds for the self reoresented.
Why would I care what a lawyer thinks?
Heart Warming Story !
Why do these lawyers want aids?
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Source: HuffPostCanada - 🏆 61. / 53 Read more »