The lawyer tasked with reviewing legal aid in B.C. is recommending the creation of a special clinic to help parents before child-protection concerns reach the level of Ministry of Children and Family Development intervention.
The recommendation is one of 25 in Vancouver lawyer Jamie Maclaren’s report, released Monday, which says a child-protection clinic would also serve as a resource centre for lawyers representing parents and should be given the highest priority.
On Oct. 4, Attorney General David Eby asked Maclaren, executive director of Access Pro Bono, to undertake a comprehensive review of how legal aid is delivered in the province from the point of view of those who use its services.
“Legal aid is not broken in B.C. It has simply lost its way,” Maclaren wrote in his executive summary, entitled Roads to Revival. “Years of underfunding and shifting political priorities have taken their toll on the range and quality of legal aid services, and especially on the people who need them.”
The Legal Services Society, which provides legal aid, is a high-functioning organization with some exceptional leaders, said Maclaren.
“It has the knowledge and the space to improve the quality and accessibility of its services at current levels of funding. Meaningful change, however, will only come with more government investment,” he wrote.
The report was released as the Association for Legal Aid Lawyers is recommending the withdrawal of legal aid services starting April 1. The action would include the withdrawal of duty counsel services throughout the province.
“The provincial government has starved the Legal Services Society since 1992 through its underfunding,” said criminal defence lawyer Richard Schwartz. “If the lawyers all stand together, I have confidence Mr. Eby will see the justice in our position.”
Maclaren consulted with 240 people who live and work in 37 municipalities. He received submissions from 130 people and 12 organizations and talked at length with front-line lawyers and legal advocates.
Maclaren also drew on his own experience of serving about 1,500 low-income clients over 13 years as a pro bono clinic lawyer in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Highest priority should be given to the development of Indigenous justice centres as culturally safe sites for holistic legal aid service to Indigenous people, says his report. The government should also fund and support an integrated network of independent community legal aid clinics with teams of lawyers and advocates providing poverty law services.
Other high-priority recommendations include the creation of a refugee legal clinic at the Immigrant Services Society of B.C.’s Welcome Centre in Vancouver or Surrey, broadening the scope of Indigenous legal aid services to include more preventive services and funding, and supporting a network of independent community legal clinics with teams of lawyers and advocates providing family law and poverty services.
The report also calls for expanded duty counsel and Family LawLINE services to improve access and convenience for working people and families, and the development of an online client portal to accept legal aid applications to empower clients in managing their own cases.
A statement from the Ministry of Attorney General says it will review the report and determine next steps.
In late November, Eby said the legal aid review was just a start. The attorney general said the legal aid system had been neglected for 16 years.
Read the report here.
