Access to Justice

Published by the Prince George Citizen on February 20

Legal aid cuts to clients facing breach charges unfair: members of Prince George criminal bar
by Paul Strickland

The removal of legal-aid funding for people facing breach charges is a mean-spirited cut that will leave poor people facing jail with no representation in court, lawyers with the criminal bar in Prince George agreed during a meeting Friday.

They plan to launch challenges related to Charter of Rights and Freedoms provisions guaranteeing a fair trial, they decided.

The total amount to be saved by cutting funding for Legal Aid for these kinds of offences is about $2 million, a minuscule amount in overall provincial budget, said Jon Duncan, a Prince George defence lawyer.

The Category 1 offences the cuts apply to — breaches, failures to appear in court and minor provincial offences — are considered by the Legal Services Society to be the least serious offences.

“Presently lawyers are not paid that much to deal with them in the first place,” Duncan said. “In fact, we probably lose money or only manage to break even to handle them.

“This being said, under the new system lawyers will not be paid at all–which effectively means that offenders charged with such offences will have to defend themselves or seek a court order for funding.”

Duncan said there is a clear need to punish breaches of court orders.

“But we must also be fair,” he said. “Most offenders are homeless. They have no income or they live on welfare. They are sufferers of mental illness. They are alcoholics, addicts, FAS (sufferers of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome), schizophrenic or bipolar.”

They barely survive from day to day and eat at St. Vincent’s, Duncan said.

“They cannot read or write,” he continued. “They have Grade 8 educations. Some have only Grade 3 educations. They have lived on reserves all their lives or come from seriously abusive upbringings.
“In reality they do not know what to say or do to defend themselves.”

Most people charged with the supposedly least serious offences like breach of probation or breach of bail conditions typically face real jail time as a result of the charge, the lawyers at Friday’s luncheon meeting agreed.
“It is not uncommon to see a starting point of 15 to 30 days in jail,” Duncan said. “As a result, what is perceived to be less serious is actually the opposite. People charged with theft under $5,000 will get a suspended sentence with the help of a lawyer while those charged with breach, considered less serious, will get 30 days — and they will not be given legal counsel to assist them.”

Lawyers at Friday’s meeting said they hoped to bring the issue to the forefront with their legal challenges and help change the provincial attorney general’s mind about the cuts. Duncan said he hoped the attorney general will soon realize the importance of ensuring trial fairness to all accused persons.

I think that people have to deal with there charges and seek counseling while in the court process. Us Canadians let Terrorists and sex offenders free to walk are streets and send poor people to jail. Americans don’t let some immigrants in to there country but we do as in terrorists. I think we have a lot of money wasted do to the Olympics that is why we are cutting back in are health care etc. I love my country but what are we fighting for in Afghanistan when we let terrorists in to are country. God bless are troops and North America

Comment by Christopher Wolf March 17, 2010 @ 5:35 am

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