BCGEU calls on government to implement Legal Aid Commission recommendations

Make legal aid an essential public service, re-open regional offices and dramatically increase funding to meet public need

The report by the Public Commission on Legal Aid is a positive step toward restoring access to justice for low-income residents, the BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU) said today, as it called on the BC government to immediately implement the report’s recommendations.

Commissioner Len Doust made a series of 9 recommendations to restore BC’s legal aid system, including the recognition of legal aid as an essential public service, expanding financial eligibility, increasing funding and re-opening regional offices.

“Access to the justice system is a cornerstone of civil society, yet thousands of low-income women and families have had justice denied due to massive cuts in legal aid,” said BCGEU president Darryl Walker. “Simply put, the BC government is shirking its duty to provide even a minimal acceptable level of legal aid services to its citizens.

“This report corroborates what front-line workers – including legal aid workers and others who provide services to women, families, immigrants and the most marginalized citizens in our society – have been saying for years.”

Commissioner Doust notes in the report that, “even services which are accepted by the government as being clearly mandated by the Canadian Constitution… are wholly inadequate.” The report also notes that the provincial and federal governments are “at risk to legal challenges that they are failing to meet their statutory, common law, constitutional and international obligations.”

Even the BC Legal Services Society endorsed major findings of the report, acknowledging that “the current scope and availability of legal aid in BC does not adequately meet the needs of the public.” The society also endorsed the recommendations that legal aid “be recognized as an essential public service and that significantly more funding is needed.”

“The BC government has a legal, moral and ethical duty to ensure that their citizens have basic access to the justice system,” said Walker. “On every count, by every measure, they have failed spectacularly to provide these services to their citizens.

“Clearly, the government can no longer claim they are providing a level of legal aid services that meets even the minimum needs of British Columbians. They must act now to implement the recommendations in this report, or abandon any claim to moral legitimacy.”

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