Defence lawyers contracted by Legal Aid Alberta are not taking certain cases for the next two weeks / Photo: CHAT News Today

By Meghan Cobb

Legal Aid job action to be felt throughout the justice system: experts

Aug 9, 2022 | 10:23 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Roster defence lawyers for Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) are not taking certain cases for the next two weeks to push the government to address what they call ‘perpetual underfunding’ of the service.

The lawyers, who are contracted by Legal Aid Alberta, will not be providing bail only services, courtroom duty counsel services, complainant services, or cross-examination of complainant services.

The work stoppage will is expected to have massive impacts on what some are calling an already overburdened system, particularly in criminal cases that make up a large part of LAA’s services.

“Two weeks of not having any work done in that sector is going to bring the system to a screeching halt,” says Kathy Parsons, executive director for the Central Alberta Community Legal Clinic.

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Parsons says while the defence lawyers are taking very specific action and are not halting services across the board, it will slow down high volume areas and will impact a lot of people who will be left to navigate the justice system on their own.

“They’re not going to be understanding the system, they’re not going to understand how their matter interacts with that system, and they’re not going to have representation in court for those quick matters as they come up,” says Parsons. “They’re pretty much left hanging high and dry with no information and no understanding and it’s going to have that huge impact on how they navigate the court system.”

Parsons says this work action is only highlighting the chronic understaffing issue of the province’s justice system. She adds there is also a shortage of crown prosecutors and judges which leads to the perception that the current system is ineffective.

“Everybody complains about this revolving door of the justice system, and it’s not even a door anymore,” says Parsons. “It’s just an open hole, and the longer this kind of stuff goes on, the more likely that door is going to get larger.”

Parsons says there are many ways people can be diverted out of the justice system and addressed in other ways that are less expensive and less demanding of the courts. Adding, until the time is taken to rethink how the system works, the same issues will continue.

“People are just going to walk out the door of the justice system because there’s nobody to hold them accountable,” says Parsons. “And that’s already been happening, so now there’s less people involved in the justice system and that’s going to escalate very quickly.”