Legal aid not getting to those who need it most: Underfunded system 'in a crisis', according to co-author of family law report
By Doug Ward
Vancouver Sun
November 10, 2010

Legal aid for family law and other civil law cases in British Columbia is seriously underfunded and failing to reach low-income people who need it, according to a new report.

The number of family law cases, for example, approved for legal representation by the provincial Legal Services Society dropped from 15,526 in 2001 to 6,270 this year, said the report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and West Coast Leaf (Women's Legal Education and Action Fund).

"The system is in crisis," report co-author Alison Brewin, executive-director of West Coast Leaf, said Tuesday in an interview.

B.C.'s legal aid system was established to help those unable to afford a lawyer.

But over time the program has evolved to limit assistance to only the most needy and to an increasingly narrow set of legal circumstances, according to the report.

For example, said Brewin, changes that took effect on April 1 of this year mean that civil legal aid for representation is only available for people earning less than $1,429 a month -- and only for cases where violence or child protection are issues.

The current system is not serving the working poor, she added, saying that someone earning minimum wage does not qualify for legal aid.

B.C. is now the third lowest province in Canada in per capita spending on legal aid, based on Statistics Canada figures, said the report, called Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding B.C.'s Broken System.

The study cites the view of one unidentified Vancouver criminal lawyer who said: "What they are doing to criminal legal aid is bad; what they are doing to civil legal aid is criminal."

The steady erosion of legal aid eligibility over the past nine years is also bad economics, said Brewin.

"Our broken legal aid system leads to enormous social costs," she said.

"Studies from other jurisdictions show that unresolved legal issues, especially family law issues, contribute to poor health from stress, increased reliance on social programs, unemployment, domestic violence and relationship breakdown."

The study calls for a "rights-based" legal aid system, which would recognize there is a human right to access legal representation in matters where human dignity is at stake, including most family law issues, major and minor criminal offences and immigration and refugee matters….