British Columbia’s most marginalized and vulnerable people could lose their legal aid lawyers next month.
The Association of Legal Aid Lawyers say their services are underfunded and are threatening to ask their members to vote in favour of withdrawing their services unless funding is boosted.
More than 600 hundred legal aid lawyers could withdraw their service as duty council on April 1 if negotiations with the province fail.
A complete withdraw of lawyers with legal aid clients will happen on April 15 if the negotiations are still not resolved by then. That means people below the poverty line as well as those suffering from mental and addiction issues might have no one to represent them.
“The larger issue here is the chronic underfunding of the legal aid system," lawyer Jason Tarnow from Tarnow Criminal Laws told CTV News. "It’s extremely difficult for people who need to rely on legal aid to qualify for legal aid. We’re really asking the government to widen the parameters by increasing the funding to legal aids.”
The association told The Canadian Press earlier this month that per capita funding has shrunk by 60 per cent since 1992, adding that B.C. ranks 10th out of 12 provinces and territories in terms of per capita funding.
CTV reached out to the Ministry of Attorney General, and was told "the ministry is continuing to have discussions with all about their proposal."
With files from The Canadian Press
