BC legal aid system doesn’t meet basic needs

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC’s legal aid system is failing to help the most needy and should be treated like an essential public service.

Lawyer Leonard Doust says his report from the Public Commission on Legal Aid shows it’s the working poor who suffer.  “What I found was that in a number of very important areas our legal aid system is simply not providing the services to the people that need them, and in particular in regard to people on the margins of society.”

“Of course, one of the problems we have is that the general public, by and large, is unaware of the problems that are created by the lack of legal services for these kinds of people,” he adds.

Doust believes legal aid should be treated as essential as health care and education.

“A simple example: in the criminal law field, 80 per cent of cases in this province are resolved without the necessity of a trial, and of course, that comes about because of discussions between the Crown [Counsel] and the defence lawyer.”

He argues that BC has fallen from being a leader in legal aid to lagging behind other jurisdictions.

The Legal Services Society, which provides legal aid in BC, says it agrees the system does not meet the needs of British Columbians.

Alison Brewin is the head of the West Coast Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund says given it’s International Women’s Day, the report comes out at a good time.

“It raises awareness about how women struggle with poverty and and family law. I think one of his suggestions is very good, and that is setting up access to justice committees all over the province. It could easily be implemented,” Brewin notes.

Attorney General Barry Penner claims fewer people would be eligible to get legal aid if the province followed Doust’s income guidelines, and there are only so many tax dollars to go around.

“Any where you look in government there are people outside of government who say we have to spend  more on the environment , health care, policing, housing, welfare or legal aid,” he maintains.

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