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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2001

OTTAWA — "Ann" lives on social assistance in a Manitoba apartment damaged by cold and wet conditions. Ann is sure the problem is faulty seals on the windows and improper ventilation, but Manitoba Housing threatened to evict her if she didn't pay for the repairs to the apartment herself. So she sought a fair hearing to see where the fault lay.

But legal aid won't fund landlord-tenant disputes in front of the residential tenancies board; a student at a legal aid clinic was all the help Ann could obtain. And when she lost her case and tried to appeal the ruling, she discovered legal aid still wouldn't help her, because the money involved was deemed "too little." As Ann can bitterly relate, paying monthly apartment repair costs out of her meager social assistance cheque, "too little" is all a matter of perspective.

This true story is the fourth released by the Canadian Bar Association in its ongoing effort to bring legal aid "horror stories" to the attention of governments, media and the Canadian public. Accounts keep coming in, from lawyers across the country, describing how the legal aid system victimizes those who need it most.

"Stories like Ann's are simply far too common," says Daphne Dumont, Q.C., of Charlottetown, President of the CBA and legal aid activist. "It's another example of how Canadians suffer when they're denied access to justice."

Ms. Dumont notes that governments are taking some action. She cites the recent $20 million in bridge funding announced by Ottawa as an example of what public pressure like the CBA's Legal Aid Watch can achieve. But she adds that because the legal aid underfunding situation is so large and widespread, the bridge funding is only "a first step."

The CBA's Legal Aid Watch, launched in August 2000, is a grassroots network of lawyers across the country 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 stories like Ann's to the CBA, which in turn circulates these stories to media and legislators at both the provincial and federal level. Past horror stories can be accessed through the CBA website, www.cba.org.

The full text of "Ann's" story is attached.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, 500 - 865 Carling Ave. , Ottawa, ON, K1S 5S8; Tel.: (613) 237-2925; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org