An Open Letter to Mike DeJong, Solicitor General, Premier Gordon Campbell, and Colin Hansen

Well, the Olympics are almost over, so that means it's BUDGET TIME. Legal aid funding is on the chopping block - again! If it is cut, this will be the ninth successive time that it has been cut since 2000. It's a travesty.

If, like me, you believe that Legal aid funding is crucial to an operating democracy, there is still time to let your voice be heard. Email GORDON CAMPBELL: Premier@gov.bc.ca; MIKE DEJONG: 'mike.dejong.mla@leg.bc.ca'; or COLIN HANSEN: 'colin.hansen.mla@leg.bc.ca'.

Here is what I wrote:

Dear Sirs,

I write to request that funding for the Legal Services Society AT LEAST remain at current levels for the 2010-2011 budget year. Legal aid services in this province are at crisis levels and Legal Services Society staff are overworked, underpaid and often doing three or four job descriptions. The tariff has been cut multiple times since the first cuts in 2000; my count is at least five times, including internal policy shifts. Legal aid is an ESSENTIAL service to a working, corruption-free democracy and the tariff cannot be cut any further.

The flood of unrepresented people in our courts have shown that your short-term thinking in cutting the tariff the first time is actually costing the province MORE money – more court time means more judges’ salaries, more sheriffs on shift, more clerks and administration and more courtrooms have to be open to expedite the amount of people in the system. LSS recently cut coverage for all category 1 offences (breaches) including for those where the Crown was asking for jail time. This has resulted in more people going into custody when they have a viable defence in law. This should horrify any right-thinking, reasonable person. It should also point out the futility of short term solutions, as it results in the state having to house and control an ever-expanding inmate population - costing the state more and more every year as the cost of food and essentials continues to climb.

I understand your government would like to be perceived as “tough on crime”. I understand the majority of British Columbia’s population believes in funding the police and Attorney General services and doesn’t believe in funding “freeloaders” on the criminal justice system. I can also say that my job is perceived as being just a barrier to jailing criminals. However, I implore you to look south of the border to the United States and their Innocence Project – how many of those people might have been saved decades of their lives by being properly represented in court? We are facing the same situation here as on major case files LSS has refused funding for private investigators, transcripts, junior counsel, and all manner of disbursements, citing lack of funding. Of course, Crown has all these resources available to them. The meager resources of an unrepresented (or underrepresented) accused are no match for a well-funded state.

I am not unrealistic; I understand that the economic downturn and poor attendance at the Olympics have resulted in a terrible climate for the province as a whole. I ask that you keep LSS funding at the same level as last year, with an inflationary adjustment. Should you choose to cut LSS funding, I project the legal aid boycott currently going on in Kamloops will expand to the rest of the province. I will be a proud supporter of that boycott.

I am a criminal defence lawyer here in Vancouver, called since 2004. I worked at the Legal Services Society through UBC Law in 2000-2003. I am a proud member of a profession that works quietly and selflessly in probono services across the province. I have had to minimize the amount of legal aid files I take. It is not financially feasible to take legal aid files. Lawyers all over the province are turning away from legal aid files because they cannot pay their taxes and their staff with what we are being paid.

The legal aid situation in this province is a travesty. Keeping the funding at its’ current levels is, in my opinion, the least you can do.

Regards,
Lisa Jean Helps

Legal System in Crisis - Mr. Justice Rosenberg's Thoughts.

A big Helps Law Offices kudos goes out today to the great Mr. Justice Rosenberg for pointing out the flaws in our bail system and how innocent until proven guilty has fallen by the wayside. The Globe and Mail carried their article about it today. In addressing the Criminal Lawyer's Association luncheon Friday, this judge (who has, in my opinion, consistently kept out of the spotlight but who is one of the great legal minds of our time) became the conscience of the Canadian legal system.

Mr. Justice Rosenberg should be commended for taking the contrary view in a public debate that has increasingly favoured mandatory minimum jail sentences, withholding of bail on grounds where the public might be offended if the accused is released and a hysteria over "rampant crime" - when the crime rate has actually fallen.

It's true that marginalized populations are far more represented in the prison system than anywhere else. It's a crime. Aboriginal offenders, in spite of R v. Gladue just don't get a fair shake. We need to stop ignoring that Canada, for all our first world values and peacekeeping leadership on a world stage, has two worlds: a first world realm and a third world, quietly concealed on reserves and reservations.

He also commented on Legal Aid as being "a cornerstone of the system". If only Legal Services in British Columbia were properly funded. Any legal aid funding for serious matters is done at a rate of $83.90 an hour and all funding is capped - so often when a lawyer does an application properly on legal aid they're losing money. The system as it stands rewards the lawyers that do a poor job. It's why most lawyers I know who do legal aid are picky - because, in essence, it doesn't pay the overhead. It's a way of doing probono - an honour to the profession. 83.90 an hour?? You can't get this guy:



in to fix ANYTHING for 83.90 an hour!! More than that, the services offered do NOT assist those - like first offenders - who really need it. The tariff is so underfunded that there are unrepresented litigants facing significant lifetime consequences who are not receiving the help they need. It's a crisis.

Mr. Justice Rosenberg should be commended on his moral and ethical stance on these issues. It is imperative that we stop hiding behind Conservative governments to shirk our responsibilities. Legal Aid should be a priority in government funding; bail should not be denied for a fear of an uninformed public and mandatory minimums tie up trial time that would not otherwise be spent because discretion has been removed from judges.

Congratulations, Mr. Justice Rosenberg. Thank you for a reasoned entry into a debate that should be informed and passionate.