Printer friendly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2000

OTTAWA — A man accused of assaulting his girlfriend was able to brutally cross-examine the woman during his trial, and there was nothing the prosecution or the judge could do about it, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) reports in its first "Horror Story" released to pressure governments into reforming the legal aid process.

In its first release, the CBA's Legal Aid Watch describes how the accused, who was denied legal aid and decided to represent himself, played "lawyer" during his own trial and inflicted a rambling, painful, three-hour cross-examination on the woman he was charged with beating.

In courtrooms across Canada, people are being denied legal aid to allow their cases to be handled by a lawyer, properly and with dignity for all parties. Court time is wasted, witnesses are abused and justice is denied. This is the result of government's failure to adequately fund legal aid, says CBA President Daphne Dumont, Q.C., of Charlottetown.

"When people like the accused man in this case are denied legal aid and decide to represent themselves, the result is a mockery of our justice system," Ms. Dumont charged. "Governments at both levels are failing their constituents by neglecting our legal aid system."

The CBA's Legal Aid Watch is a grassroots network of lawyers across the country deeply concerned about the state of legal aid funding and its impact on Canadians. They monitor the administration of legal aid in their own communities and file e-mail reports of "horror stories" to the CBA's head office in Ottawa. The CBA in turn circulates these stories to media outlets and legislators at both the provincial and federal level.

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, notaries, teachers and students from across Canada are members.

See attached bulletin containing the Legal Aid Watch "Horror Story #1."
CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, 500 - 865 Carling Ave. , Ottawa, ON, K1S 5S8 Tel: (613) 237-2925; E-mail: hannahb@cba