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By Ashley Legassic

LEGAL AID

Province, legal aid society reach agreement

Oct 15, 2019 | 3:24 PM

VICTORIA — An historic agreement has been reached between the provincial government, the Legal Services Society (LSS), and the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers (ALL).

Kamloops lawyer Graham Kay sits on the board of ALL, and says the association is happy with the three-year agreement that’s been reached.

“It actually consists of three agreements,” Kay explains. “One is an increase in the rate that lawyers’ offices receive for taking legal aid files, and that’s a three-year agreement. And then there’s also an agreement for ongoing negotiations after this agreement expires. So there is an established relationship between (ALL) and the government in that regard. Then there’s a third agreement which is between the government, the ALL and the LSS.”

Kay says this guarantees the ALL and LSS will have a seat at the table when it comes to discussing policy issues going forward. Kay says this is the first agreement of its kind.

“We negotiated all summer long, and we had overwhelming support from our membership to ratify the agreement, so I think that we’re very happy and we are looking forward to a strong relationship in the future.”

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In a news release, the provincial government says this is the most recent of several provincial government initiatives to improve access to justice.

“It is embarrassing how poorly previous governments have treated the lawyers who help refugees, as well as those who are poor, marginalized and often face serious mental health and addiction challenges,” said BC Attorney General David Eby in the news release. “I am so proud that our government is addressing this injustice.”

Kay says he thinks Eby summed the sentiment up accurately and noted this isn’t a partisan issue.

“We have had both Liberal and NDP governments that have failed to address the ongoing issues of legal aid in this province, so it’s very healthy for the province to see this new agreement going forward.”

In terms of improving access to legal aid, Kay says by increasing the funding for legal offices that assist people on legal aid retainers, he expects fewer lawyers to get out of providing legal aid services.

He adds that by having a guaranteed seat at the table to talk about policy, ALL and LSS will be able to discuss the eligibility criteria for legal aid, which Kay says needs to be improved.

“We’re just looking forward to the new relationship and this is just the first step that we’ve completed and we’re looking forward to getting into the next consultation phase.”