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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 16, 2000
Stakeholders to Discuss How to Remedy Ailing Legal Aid System
VANCOUVER - A study by Women’s Access to Legal Services (WALS) coalition, funded by Status of Women Canada, identifies significant barriers to women’s access to justice due to reductions in Provincial government funding of legal aid. The researchers interviewed approximately 60 advocates and women who have been denied legal aid in four BC rural and urban communities. Key findings of the report Access to Justice Denied: Women and Legal Aid in BC indicate that:
When women who cannot afford a lawyer are denied legal aid, their legal rights are compromised or denied; The Legal Services Society is not providing BC women with the legal services mandated by the Legal Services Society Act; Women who would otherwise qualify are denied services because of unreasonable coverage and financial eligibility rules; The Provincial Government has the money to fund adequate legal aid from Federal Government payments and the Provincial Sales Tax on lawyers’ accounts that was created to pay for legal aid; The federal government has abdicated its responsibility to create national standards for access to justice and to ensure that funds transferred to the provinces are used in accordance with the Charter.
The report makes several key recommendations including that:
Flexibility be returned to the financial eligibility criteria for legal aid; Expanded coverage be provided to cover variations in family matters; The Legal Services Society debt be forgiven; The Provincial Sales Tax collected on lawyers’ accounts be put in a dedicated fund for legal aid, along with all federal legal aid funding.
WALS strongly urges the Attorney General of BC and the Federal Minister of Justice to call a meeting of stakeholders to discuss how to improve women’s access to civil legal aid.
Note to editors: Click here to view the report.
For more information, contact:
Penny Bain
604.669.7055
Shelley Chrest
604.689.1866
Mary Williams
604.254.4026
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