Grants Approved

Continuing Programs and Projects
The Board of Governors of the Law Foundation of B.C. met on March 27, 2010 and approved funding for a number of continuing programs and projects. Chair Mary Mouat is pleased to announce that funding totalling $417,456 was approved for the following 14 projects:

Funding totalling $147,456 was approved for the following 11 small projects:

• 15,000, BC CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION, Arrest Handbook
• 15,000, COWICHAN WOMEN AGAINST VIOLENCE SOCIETY, Designated Domestic Violence Court Education Project
• 15,000, DOXA DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, Legal Rights Film Forum
• 15,000, LEGAL SERVICES SOCIETY, Association of Legal Aid Plans Conference
• 15,000, PEOPLE’S LAW SCHOOL SOCIETY, Consumer Law Cartoons and Web Pages
• 15,000, SALVATION ARMY BELKIN HOUSE, Refugee and Personal Information Form Development Program
• 15,000, SIMION FRASER UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY, Law School Development Project
• 15,000, VANCOUVER AREA HUMAN RIGHTS COALITION SOCIETY, BullyFreeBC – Phase III Report
• 10,560, SENIORS’ OUTREACH SERVICES SOCIETY, Seniors’ Outreach Housing
• 9,396, WEST COAST PRISON JUSTICE SOCIETY, Prisoner Legal Education Project
• 7,500, CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, Sentencing and Corrections Conference

Funding totalling $240,000 was approved for the following two Public Interest Articling Scholarships:

• 120,000 , BC LAW INSTITUTE, Public Interest Articling Fellowships
• 120,000 , COMMUNITY LEGAL ASSISTANCE SOCIETY, Public Interest Articling Fellowships

Funding totalling $30,000 was approved for the following project:

• PROVINCIAL COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, Judicial Interns Circuit Court Program

For full details of the programs and projects that received funding, please visit www.lawfoundationbc.org.

First West Credit Union
Law Foundation Chair, Mary Mouat, commends First West Credit Union for its commitment to pay one of the most competitive rates of return on lawyers’ pooled trust accounts. This ensures First West Credit Union a top spot on the Law Foundation’s preferred list of financial institutions for lawyers pooled trust accounts.

First West Credit Union is a new credit union formed by the merger of Envision Credit Union and Valley First Credit Union, both having agreed to competitive interest rate agreements in the past. Now with the merger, and during these unprecedented times with interest rates at a record low, First West Credit Union voluntarily stepped forward with a new agreement that set it above other financial institutions in the rate of return paid to the Foundation. Thanks go to former Chief Executive Officer Gord Huston, and current Chief Executive Officer Launi Skinner, for the leadership shown in making this new agreement possible.

Increased revenues enable the Law Foundation to fund programs that make the justice system accessible to the people of British Columbia. The funded programs include professional legal education, public legal education, law reform, legal research, legal aid and law libraries.

The Canadian Bar Association (B.C. Branch), the Law Society and the Law Foundation encourage lawyers to consider which financial institutions provide the best support to the Law Foundation when deciding where to place their trust accounts.

This article was published in the June 2010 issue of BarTalk. © 2010 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.