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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2010
OTTAWA – The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has released a research report on legal aid that includes recent policy developments and innovations in legal aid service delivery in Canada and elsewhere. The report concludes with 10 proposals for future action to advance equal justice.
“The CBA is impressed by the thoroughness of the research, the depth of analysis and the creativity of the proposals for future action contained in the report.” says CBA President D. Kevin Carroll, Q.C. of Barrie, Ontario. “We expect the report will help inform the CBA’s work to advance access to justice for years to come.”
Moving Forward on Legal Aid: Research of Needs and Innovative Approaches was written by Dr. Melina Buckley, LL.B, Ph.D., of Vancouver, one of Canada’s foremost experts on access to justice. She looks at unmet legal needs and the escalating impact and marginalization that can result when people with low incomes have no solutions to their legal problems.
Dr. Buckley notes that because of increasingly tight legal aid budgets, the trend has been to shift the onus to individuals to navigate the justice system without actual legal representation.
In the report, Dr. Buckley considers recent policy developments in Canada and other countries, often focusing on ways that well timed legal assistance can actually combat social exclusion and increase social equality. Innovative approaches to service delivery and new strategies for expanding assistance beyond direct legal services are also discussed.
The report is available on the CBA website.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Hannah Bernstein
The Canadian Bar Association
Tel: 613-237-2925, ext. 146
E-mail: hannahb@cba.org
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