Lawyers in Powell River who normally provide duty counsel services through legal aid funding are joining lawyers across BC and halting those services in protest of insufficient funding.
The protest started during the first week of January as lawyers withdrew services as duty counsel on criminal cases in courthouses throughout the province. Lawyers in Powell River were not organized in time for all to boycott the first week of January, but all will take part as the protest continues.
The protest is being organized by Trial Lawyers Association of BC to draw attention to a lack of funding for services. Legal aid provides legal advice and services to people in specific situations who are unable to afford representation.
During the boycott legal aid will continue to be available for those who enter into criminal trials and for those who need counsel for family law. During the time of action, however, no duty counsel will be in court to assist with initial appearances.
The action will continue to take place over the first two weeks of February, the first three weeks of March and all of April. Lawyers hope to both draw attention to the issue and to show how bogged down the courts get when lawyers are not providing duty counsel.
Lawyer Stacey McCausland said the protest is in response to a pattern of continuously cut services and a lack of funding for the program. Participation in the boycott is voluntary. All three Powell River lawyers who offer criminal duty counsel services are participating.
McCausland said that during her 10 years as a lawyer in Powell River she has seen the closure of the local legal aid office, immigration and poverty coverage has been cut and family law funding has been significantly reduced.
A new tariff system has been the last straw, according to McCausland, which has resulted in lawyers receiving less pay than they did as recently as two years ago for the same work. She said this system makes it difficult for a lawyer to make a living while providing legal aid services.
McCausland hopes the action will show just how crucial such services are to an efficiently run system, “so that it’s worth funding.”
Adding “insult to injury,” said McCausland, is the fact that law services are charged a tax that is supposed to go toward legal aid. This tax is estimated to generate about $100 million annually. The Trial Lawyers Association has stated that legal aid funding is down $50 million from 20 years ago.
On Friday, December 30, the provincial government announced a $2.1-million boost to legal aid. In 2010/2011 the Law Services Society, which administers legal aid, received $71.5 million from the province and around $5 million from other sources. Duty counsel services in 2010/2011, for both family and criminal law, cost the society just over $9.6 million and tariffs for all other legal services cost about $45.5 million.
While Powell River lawyers are taking part in the boycott, McCausland said she will step in if needed and that she will not let anyone sit in jail when they don’t have to. The point isn’t to hurt those who need legal aid, but to show how essential those service are, she said.
Lawyer David Garling said legal aid funding is an easy service for the government to ignore because most people aren’t affected by it. He said the boycott is meant to show just how backed up the system can get without duty counsel there to help it along.
“It’s easy for them to ignore unless you dramatize what it is that you do and the load that you take off the system by doing it,” said Garling. “A lot of the good things that happen are invisible because they’re things like time saving and justice. There’s no meter for that.”
Garling said he expects that even in Powell River, a relatively quiet locale, there will be a certain amount of confusion and disorganization at the courthouse without duty counsel there.
“It makes them aware that we’re part of the system and that we’re overall a force for good,” said Garling.
