Re: BarTalk, October 1999, Pages 21-23
I’m writing in response to comments by Province newspaper columnist Joey Thompson, which appeared in the October 1999 issue of BarTalk. I was stunned to read Joey Thompson’s comment that the “legal profession is very standoffish with the media, and that’s for reasons steeped in a whole lot of history.” What rubbish. Perhaps some lawyers don’t talk to certain reporters or columnists because these journalists either regularly make mistakes or deliberately misrepresent the facts to buttress their story. That’s understandable. To say that lawyers in general are inaccessible is sheer nonsense.

There are several legitimate criticisms that could be leveled at the legal profession. Suggesting that lawyers are often unavailable for comment isn’t one of them.

Charlie Smith
News Editor
Georgia Straight

Re: BarTalk, October 1999, Page 1
In this front page article (“The Right and Cost of Representation”) is a quote that was attributed to me; “migrants should not be allowed to consult immigration lawyers, who only counsel them to lie”. This is very much a misrepresentation of what I actually said. One of your colleagues spoke to the reporter in question, who allegedly admits that I did not say these things. However, the quote was an interpretation by the reporter in question.

To set the record straight, I did not say any of the things that were quoted in your front page article that were attributed to me.

In the future, if you have any concerns about quotes that I make, it would be appreciated if you would contact me directly, so that I can set the record straight.

Dr Keith Martin MP
Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca

Re: BarTalk, December 1999, Page 1
In response to the editorial on the front page of the December issue of BarTalk (“Refugee Hearings Questioned”), I would like to take this opportunity to outline some of the facts about the legal services that LSS is providing to the Chinese refugee claimants.

We agree with your comments regarding the serious difficulties caused by Immigration Canada relocating a large number of the claimants to a detention centre in Prince George, and conducting refugee hearings there. However, your concerns about “choice of counsel, individual representation, and the ability of lawyers to adequately represent the individuals involved…” are misleading.

From the outset, the Society has said it is committed to providing all claimants with all the services to which they are entitled, without cutting services to other clients; however we must do so with limited funds.

When a number of the claimants were relocated to Prince George and Alouette River, LSS was faced with the fact that there are few lawyers with immigration and refugee law experience in those areas; most reside in Greater Vancouver, as that is where these hearings normally take place. The cost of travel and disbursements for a large number of lawyers receiving individual referrals for these cases would have been prohibitive. As well, having just arrived in Canada, the refugee claimants were not in a position to arrange for their own counsel.

Clearly in this situation the normal manner of issuing individual referrals was unworkable. Therefore we had to find another method of providing experienced lawyers for these claimants.

We canvassed a number of immigration lawyers from the private bar about the possibility of contracting to arrange for representation and we were encouraged to pursue this approach. A “Request for Proposals” was issued in late October and the contracts were let by the end of the month.

Every application for contracting had to meet an initial threshold before it was considered. First and foremost, an applicant had to have the necessary experience in immigration and refugee law; if that standard was not met we didn’t evaluate any other aspect of the application. Beyond this, all criteria were given equal weight. Additional criteria included the ability to provide the same level of services to individual members of a refugee group that would be provided to any normal individual referral, and the quality of service provided on previous referrals.

Contracting in no way reduces the level of attention each refugee’s claim receives; nor does it reduce the quality of services provided to the claimants. All lawyers eligible to take legal aid referrals must be in good standing with the Law Society of BC, and LSS presumes the services rendered will be of the highest standard.

We will not know whether the contract costs are higher or lower than the individual referrals made for the Chinese refugee claimants until we receive the final billings for both types of referral.

Although adequate funding for legal aid is an ongoing issue for the Society, to date this has not interfered with our ability to provide capable and experienced lawyers for these claimants.

David S Duncan
CEO and Executive Director
Legal Services Society

These letters were published in the February 2000 issue of BarTalk.