A while ago I posted the blog “Legal Aid Ontario Faces $56M Deficit” on the projected budget gap of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) this fiscal year. It seemed like the Province of Ontario has stepped in to fill the hole just in time.
Ontario’s Attorney General, the Honourable Chris Bentley announced on Tuesday, September 8, 2009, that the province will increase LAO funding of approximately $150M over the next four years. LAO is expected to receive about $60 million dollars for the current fiscal year.
However, criminal defence lawyers are not amused and call the funding “an insult,” reported the Globe and Mail.* The story reported that criminal defence lawyers in the province saw the funding increase as a band-aid solution that neglected to address the root of the problems. Paul Calarco, a senior lawyer in Toronto, lamented that the offer, which amounts to an increase of about 5% yet was billed as the biggest leap in the history of LAO, will only harden the resolve of the boycotting lawyers.
I have to admit, giving lawyers a raise has never been a popular cause, compared with, say, improving health care and reducing medical wait times. That being said, I do feel strongly that the chronic underfunding of LAO will eventually lead to its demise – the death of a publicly-funded program offering meaningful access to justice for the underprivileged.
The low hourly rate – less than what my automobile mechanic would charge – plus the tight caps on the hours allowed often lead to reluctance to accept LAO funded cases, particularly for experienced counsels, who can otherwise fill their docket with clients who pay the full rate. Clients facing serious and complicated legal problems often have to resort to less experienced lawyers – who may take more hours achieving the same results (or poorer ones) as the more experienced. As junior counsels fill up their hours, LAO becomes less able to offer competitive compensation. A vicious downward spiral hence perpetuates itself.
It’s time to get rid of the band-aid and apply proper stitches instead.
*Kirk Makin “Ontario lawyers continue legal aid boycott; cash infusion called an ‘insult’” The Globe and Mail (9 September 2009) Online: The Globe and Mail <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-lawyers-continue-legal-aid-boycott-cash-infusion-an-insult/article1280110/#article>
