Legal aid is vital to access to justice

As many of you know, I have dedicated a lot of my time, energy and outreach activities during my term as Treasurer to issues of access to justice. This builds on a steadfast Law Society commitment to raising the issues of legal aid funding with government for the past two decades.

Today, I wanted to share with you the priorities the Law Society advanced in the recent pre-budget consultations hosted by The Hon. Charles Sousa, Minister of Finance.

Our emphasis is on the urgent need to address the inadequate financial eligibility levels, which have been frozen since 1995.

Those 20 years have taken their toll. Fewer than 7% of Ontario’s population is eligible for legal aid today. A drop of more than 10%. The cut-off is currently $10,800, which is startling considering a full time minimum-wage job is something over $21,000.

We stressed the importance that Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) not be tasked with meeting this shortfall internally as they are already hard pressed to meet the current program demands.

We also highlighted the need to find a longer-term model for sustainable funding and a mechanism to see reasonable, regular increases to the hourly rate, and predictability throughout LAO and the clinic system.

The Law Society will continue to support the efforts of Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid (ASLA) in its pursuit of these and other important legal aid issues.

Minister Sousa is looking for input. Take a minute to let him know how important you think legal aid funding is.

Here are some facts in an ASLA letter from late last year.