Changes announced
mean that accused people facing a bail hearing in Ontario will no longer get
legal aid funding to hire own legal representatives. Lawyers are warning that
fresh changes to Ontario’s legal aid system launched by Ford government funding
cuts will stall the courts and reduce people’s rights of getting a fair bail hearing.
Legal Aid Ontario
announced new policies on its funding for bail hearings in the wake
of the government’s $133-million cut to the agency’s budget.
The changes mean the
accused people facing a bail hearing or seeking a review of a bail decision
will no longer get legal aid funding to hire their own
lawyer. Instead, they must be represented by a legal aid staff lawyer,
known as duty counsel.
Criminal lawyers
say duty counsel are already overburdened and will not be able to do what’s needed
to assist the large number of clients likely to be dumped upon them.
Taking on a considerable
number of complex matters that require a full day of preparation or special
accommodation means we can’t do as many routine cases. That could leave people
facing charges unjustly locked up for a lengthy amount of time as they await to
appear for bail hearing.
Changes to legal aid funding for bail hearings will create a jam in
Ontario courts.
Legal Aid Ontario
is also cutting in half an enhancement paid to lawyers to handle cases of
clients with mental health issues and cutting a special payment for cases of
Indigenous clients by 40 per cent.
The government is
targeting people who have low income with its legal aid cuts. One can only be
critical of cuts to funding for specialized and community legal aid clinics,
including Canada’s oldest and largest clinics in Toronto.
That
cut indicates a really vindictive intent on behalf of either the
government or Legal Aid Ontario.
Criminal lawyers
foresee the massive delays at Toronto’s Old City Hall courthouse. Old City Hall
is the busiest provincial courthouse in all of Canada, with a very high number
of marginalized and impoverished defendants.
The Ford
government’s cuts to legal aid don’t make sense when it comes to
the proper administration of justice. They will result in more wrongful
convictions and more people pleading guilty to crimes they didn’t commit to
avoid the prospect of having to represent themselves in a trial.