Passage of Bill 161 could mean more self-represented litigants
Emmett Bisbee in The Lawyer's Daily expresses his concerns about the dramatic consequences of the passage of Bill 161. The author argues that the bill weakens the mandate of Legal Aid Ontario and will ultimately lead to fewer Canadians having access to legal aid services. The consequence of this will undoubtedly be more self-represented litigants in the court system.
We know that self-represented litigants have worse outcomes from the legal system than do people with proper representation. As Bisbee states, "Among the many disadvantages of self-representing, SRLs are more prone to making tactical mistakes during proceedings, not understanding their rights, thinking solely about whether they would go to jail (and not other relevant considerations), pleading guilty immediately just to get out of jail or to lift bail conditions, poorly cross-examining witnesses and 'making accidental and damaging admissions.'"
The Canadian Bar Association has gone so far as to say that judges and lawyers are, “united in the belief that unrepresented litigants fare worse in court and experience poorer outcomes compared to those who have access to lawyers.”
Click here to read the full article at The Lawyer's Daily.
Ford government passes problematic Bill 161
The Ford government rushed a number of bills through the Ontario Legislature in advance of the summer sitting. Bill 161, the government's badly flawed legal reform legislation, was among the bills passed.
Bill 161: the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, 2020 has been panned by legal scholars. More than 30 Law professors published a report that stated that the bill "seriously weakens the ability of community legal clinics to engage in meaningful, sufficiently funded legal work to address the everyday violations of legal rights of low-income individuals and disadvantaged communities".
The Society has been among those criticizing the legislation. “There is broad consensus within the legal profession and across the political spectrum that Ontario has an access to justice crisis,” Dana Fisher, vice-president of the Society's Legal Aid Ontario Lawyers Local said in a June statement. “In spite of this, Bill 161 seeks to literally remove the words “access to justice” from the purpose of the Legal Aid Services Act.”
For a summary of several of the problematic bills that the government rushed to pass read the article in the Lawyer's Daily.
More funding needed for legal aid amidst pandemic
During the Society of United Professionals' recent lobby day at Queen's Park, members from the Society's Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) Local were raising concerns about the reliance on funds from the Law Society of Ontario to address budget concerns.
Two letters from the Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid are reinforcing the concerns that more funding is needed for Legal Aid Ontario. The letters, addressed to Attorney General of Ontario Doug Downey and Minister of Justice David Lametti, note that one of the major funders of Legal Aid Ontario is the Law Foundation of Ontario.
The letters note that, “The foundation’s revenue is composed of interest on the trust accounts of lawyers and paralegals, and is dependent primarily on interest rates and the balances in mixed-trust accounts. We expect the foundation’s financial situation to be drastically different this year than it was last year. Recently, the Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate to assist the country with the economic downturn resulting from COVID-19.... Accordingly, the foundation’s contribution could fall from a high of over $91 million in 2019/20 to less than $30 million in 2020/21.”
When coupled with the Ford government's cuts, Legal Aid is struggling to meet the increase in demand on their services due to COVID-related cases.
You can read the whole article at Law Times here: https://www.lawtimesnews.com/practice-areas/immigration/more-funding-needed-for-legal-aid-amidst-pandemic-letters-say/330116
Read the report: Neither Smarter nor Stronger
More than 30 law professors from across Ontario have weighed in on the impact of the government's proposed Bill 161: the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act.
According to the report, Neither Smarter nor Stronger: Bill 161 is a Step Backwards for Access to Justice and Community-Based Legal Services in Ontario, the Bill, if passed, "seriously weakens the ability of community legal clinics to engage in meaningful, sufficiently funded legal work to address the everyday violations of legal rights of low-income individuals and disadvantaged communities".
Ford government’s legal aid plan will have ‘profoundly negative’ effect on low-income Ontarians, law professors say
Toronto Star Legal Affairs Reporter
Tues., March 10, 2020
To read the story on the Toronto Star website please click here.
The Ontario government’s proposed changes to the legal aid system “will have profoundly negative impacts” on the people served by the province’s community legal clinics, according to a report endorsed by more than 30 law professors from across the province.
The report released Tuesday urges the legislature to reject the government’s proposed legislation.
Instead, the authors call for “public, meaningful, and open consultation with low-income and marginalized communities and their clinics about needed reforms to the legal aid system in Ontario.”
The system took a hit last spring when the government slashed $133 million in funding to Legal Aid Ontario, the independent agency that manages the legal aid plan. LAO also funds Ontario’s 73 community legal clinics, some of which provide general legal services to low-income people on matters such as housing and income security in specific “catchment areas,” while others have provincial mandates in certain issues including HIV/AIDS, children and youth, and the elderly.
Then, at the end of the year, the government announced it was revamping legal aid in Ontario, as part of an omnibus justice bill titled the “Smarter and Stronger Justice Act,” which received second reading in the legislature last week and has been referred to the standing committee on justice policy for further study.
A number of concerns dealing with the proposed act’s impact on community legal clinics are outlined in Tuesday’s report, titled “Neither Smarter nor Stronger,” prepared by five law professors from three Ontario universities — York, Ottawa and Windsor — and a law student.
Among other issues, the report points out that the proposed act removes the explicit purpose found in the current act, which is to “promote access to justice throughout Ontario for low-income individuals,” including by identifying the legal needs of “low-income individuals and of disadvantaged communities.”
The new purpose would be to “facilitate the establishment of a flexible and sustainable legal aid system that provides effective and high-quality legal aid services throughout Ontario in a client-focused and accountable manner while ensuring value for money.”
As critics have previously pointed out, the term “low-income” also does not appear in the proposed act. The government has said it still expects Legal Aid Ontario to serve low-income individuals, but that the change in the proposed legislation is to reflect that some legal aid services may also benefit middle-income people.
“They removed the language of disadvantaged communities,” said Osgoode Hall law professor Janet Mosher, one of the report’s authors, whose areas of research include legal aid and access to justice for marginalized communities.
“And I think that’s especially worrying in the context of what we know is significant growth in income inequality and really fundamental gaps in access to justice.”
The report says placing the focus of a legal aid system on “value for money” rather than “access to justice” suggests funding legal aid is a “short-term investment.”
“We take issue with any suggestion that our legal aid system should be defined primarily in terms of ‘dollars-and-cents,’” the report says. According to research, the authors say, savings ranging from $9 to $16 on social services spending can be achieved for every dollar spent on legal aid.
“Furthermore, there are enormous economic and social benefits to ensuring that individuals have access to stable housing, income security, health care and other social services,” the report states. “These long-term benefits have not been accounted for in the government’s approach.”
The proposed act also removes the ability of clinics to request a reconsideration of an unfavourable funding decision by Legal Aid Ontario, the report states, and removes protections to ensure that the clinics can independently determine the legal needs of their communities.
The language used in legislation is crucial, Mosher said, as it dictates what a government or institution can and can’t do. As an example, the report points out that the current act says Legal Aid Ontario “shall” provide services in criminal, family, clinic and mental health law, while the proposed act says the agency “may” provide services in those areas.
But as Mosher explained: “If a statute says something ‘shall’ happen, that’s always interpreted as mandatory, and if the statutory language is ‘may,’ that is always understood to be permissive, so it gives the government tremendous flexibility about what they decide to do at any given time, or discretion to Legal Aid to decide what to do at any given time.”
The report states that because of the use of “may” instead of “shall,” there’s technically no longer a requirement to fund community clinics at all.
Finally, the report also highlights that under the proposed act, there would no longer be a requirement that the Legal Aid Ontario board have members “with knowledge, skills, and experience with the operation of clinics” and the legal needs of disadvantaged communities.
“This short-sighted approach threatens the basis of our legal aid system and will lead to more Ontarians losing access to basic rights in a context of growing income inequality,” the report concludes.
Examining the impacts of Ford government's cuts on Legal Clinics – Stop Legal Aid Cuts Digest
Check out top stories on issues of Access to Justice.
In this edition you will find a compilation of articles examining the direct impacts on legal clinics in Ontario as a result of the Ford government's cuts to Legal Aid Ontario.
How Ontario’s new legal aid bill will impact Parkdale, Orbiter Dicta
Radhika Sharma examines how the proposed ‘Smarter and Stronger Justice Act’ has already affected the Parkdale Legal Clinic and how it may prevent clinics like Parkdale from being able to advocate for the very people it is supposed to be helping.
Already down $500,000, Parkdale legal clinic spared new funding cut in 2020, Toronto Star
Legal Affairs Reporter Jaques Gallant explores how little difference the government's reversal of the additional $31 million cut will have on the Parkdale Legal Clinic and the damage already done.
Community legal clinics dodge elimination under new justice legislation, Simcoe.com
Crime and Justice Reporter Rick Vanderlinde outlines how the government's reversal has temporarily spared clinics like the Community Legal Clinic Simcoe, Haliburton, Kawartha Lakes, but many questions remain about clinic viability.
Sudbury legal aid clinic 'stretched thin' after provincial cutbacks, CBCNews.ca
CBC News speaks to officials with Sudbury's legal aid clinic who say they're still reeling from cuts imposed by the provincial government.
Examining the ‘Smarter and Stronger Justice Act’ – Stop Legal Aid Cuts Digest
Check out top stories on issues of Access to Justice.
In this edition you will find a compilation of articles examining the new legislation proposed by the Ontario Government that aims to change the Act governing Legal Aid Ontario.
‘Smarter and stronger?’ New law is really a cruel gutting of access to justice for the impoverished, CBC News
Michale Spratt, partner at Ottawa criminal law firm Abergel Goldstein & Partners examines how “the devil is in the details,” in the proposed ‘Smarter and Stronger Justice Act.’
Questions remain on funding sustainability in legal clinic system, Law Times
In this interview with Law Times, Dana Fisher, Local Vice-President for the Society of United Professionals LAO Local, discusses concerns with current levels of legal aid funding and access to justice for low-income people moving forward.
Critics question changes in Ford government’s proposed legal aid law, like how the term ‘low-income’ is nowhere to be found, Toronto Star
Legal Affairs Reporter Jaques Gallant compares the proposed new Act governing Legal Aid with the one in the books now. The article examines the four major changes and discusses the impact of the differences with critics of the proposed Act.
Attorney General Doug Downey on Metro Morning
Metro Morning host Farrah Merali asks Attorney General Doug Downey about the removal of “Access to Justice” and “low-income” from the preamble of the new Legal Aid Ontario law, as proposed in the ‘Smarter and Stronger Justice Act.’
LISTEN HERE (Audio Clip, 2MB)
Ontario cancels planned future cuts to legal aid; this year’s cut remains, CP24
In this video interview, Dana Fisher, Local Vice-President for the Society of United Professionals LAO Local responds to the changes proposed to the Act governing Legal Aid Ontario.
Ontario should restore funding to legal aid system, Toronto Star
This editorial examines how the harm caused by this year’s $133 million cut to Legal Aid Ontario cannot be fixed by cancelling the proposed cuts for 2020.
Cuts to Legal Aid: Who Feels it Most? - Stop Legal Aid Cuts Digest
Check out top stories on issues of Access to Justice.
In this edition you will find a compilation of articles examining the services that have been impacted by cuts to legal aid from tenant’s rights advocacy to the loss of duty counsel services.
Sharp rise in no-fault eviction applications for renters in Toronto, new report says, CBC News
Lucas Powers covers the findings of the newest report released by the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO). We Can’t Wait Preserving Our Affordable Rental Housing in Ontario found a disturbing rise in the number of renters being evicted by, “landlords looking to capitalize on the province’s housing shortage.”
Province failing most vulnerable after legal aid ‘gutted,’ lawyer says, CBC News
Ottawa defence lawyer, Leo Russomanno, shares the impact of cuts to a courtroom service that permitted duty council “to stand in when an accused person’s actual defence lawyer couldn’t be in court.”
‘The system is broken:’ Man can’t afford lawyers, don’t qualify for legal aid, CTV News
Bill Graveland covers lack of access to legal aid across the country, exploring legal experts views of how the justice system is failing Canada’s working poor.
Spratt: Everyone loses as the effects of legal-aid cut hit Ottawa, Ottawa Citizen
An overview of why a well-funded legal aid system makes economic and social sense and a look at the results of the Ford Government’s slash to legal aid funding in Ottawa’s bail courts.
Legal Aid Cuts & Access to Justice
Workers from across the Legal Aid system came together for a panel discussion at the Ontario Federation of Labour's 2019 Convention, to discuss access to justice and the impact of the Ford Government's $133 million cut to Legal Aid Ontario.
Putting access to justice center stage - Stop Legal Aid Cuts Digest
Check out top stories on issues of Access to Justice with our new Digest.
In this edition you will find a compilation of articles that examine how to bring conversations about access to justice to the forefront, from greater investments, to a greater call for federal justice reform.
Investing in Justice Report, Canadian Forum on Civil Justice
A major report published by the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) published this fall, examining the return on investment in access to justice.
The report concludes that, “across a diversity of justice programs, services and mechanisms around the world, spending on justice results in significant economic and other benefits that generally significantly exceed the value of the investment.” In most cases, the rate of return on investment in justice services and programs is between CAD $9 and $16 for every CAD $1 that is spent.”
View it HERE.
Legal aid investments save governments money all over the world, Canadian researchers find, Law Times
Law Times’ website and newsletter editor, Anita Balakrishnan, provides a summary of the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice’s report Investing in Justice. Find an overview on the return on investment in access to justice, how to bring access to justice issues to the forefront, and next steps.
A wish list for federal justice reform, Canadian Lawyer
Criminal law specialist and partner at Abergel Goldstein & Partners, Michael Spratt, presents a wish list of justice action for Canada’s 43rd parliament including: increased legal aid funding, correctional reform, pardon legislation and more.
Scott McCannell: B.C.’s front-line legal aid lawyers ignored, Vancouver Sun
Scott McCannell, Executive Director of the Professional Employees Association, representing staff lawyers at the Legal Services Society, discusses LSS staff lawyers decision to vote in favour of strike action.
“B.C.'s legal aid crisis has reached a tipping point. More than a decade of underfunding and the significant cuts made by the previous government have added up.”