BC NDP

B.C.’s LawLINE Axed and Frontline Services in Victoria, Surrey, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George to be Eliminated - Krog

VICTORIA – At a time when the demand for legal aid services is on the rise across the province, the B.C. Liberals are dealing a second round of deep cuts to resources that help British Columbians access justice, said New Democrat Attorney General critic Leonard Krog today.

Krog says the B.C. Liberals’ plan to impose significant cuts to the Legal Services Society (LSS), a non-profit organization that helps lower income British Columbians navigate the justice system, is short-sighted and will only further congest the courts, costing B.C. taxpayers more.

“For the second time in less than a year, the B.C. Liberals have reduced funding for the Legal Services Society when they are already faced with an overwhelming demand for legal aid, along with inadequate non-governmental funding sources,” said Krog. “At the end of the day it will be low-income British Columbians, mostly women, children and new immigrants, who will be drastically impacted by the loss of these vital services.”

The LSS provides legal aid to thousands of people who cannot afford counsel to resolve their legal issues. The cuts, primarily targeted at legal programs, will take effect April 2010, when 58 positions across the province will be eliminated and regional offices in Victoria, Surrey, Kelowna, Kamloops and Prince George, which provide front line services, will be closed. Civil law projects will also be axed, including the LawLINE, Community Advocate Support Line and civil law program in Nanaimo. The cuts are compounded by the closure of the Vancouver Family Law Clinic in February and the loss of 38 legal services positions.

Krog says the regional offices and LawLINE, a free legal aid information and advice line, help low-income residents through difficult legal issues.

"The impact these cuts will have on lower income people, particularly women, children and new immigrants will be devastating," said Krog. "Without regional offices, the LawLINE and legal aid, B.C.’s most marginalized will be forced to navigate within a complex legal system alone, prepare their own legal documents and potentially agree to settlements that are not in their best interests."

Krog says the cuts to legal aid handed down since 2002 are the ongoing legacy of the B.C. Liberals.

“The B.C. Liberals have consistently neglected the vital role legal aid serves,” said Krog. “Their actions have severed access to civil legal aid services that should remain an economic, social and cultural right across B.C.”

In 2002 the B.C. Liberals imposed a 40-per-cent cut to the LSS budget over three years. Full-time staff were slashed from 460 to 155 and the province replaced 42 offices and 14 area directors with seven offices and 22 local agents. The majority of the cuts occurred in family law legal aid, through the complete elimination of provincial funding for poverty law and immigration law. Since the B.C. Liberals came into office, funding for legal aid has been cut by $22 million. In 2007, they forced the LSS into deficit spending.

“It’s time for the B.C. Liberals to stop undermining our justice system,” said Krog. “The government has an obligation to recognize the impact these cuts will have on lower income and marginalized British Columbians, and to ensure their rights are protected."

Carole James and the New Democrats have been holding the B.C. Liberals accountable for breaking their word on the HST, and for backtracking on their election promises to protect health care, education, and other vital services.