Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 2009, access to justice, bc, canadian labour international film festival, cliff, justice system, kyle russell, Legal Services Society, LSS, meena mann, PEA, professional employees association, shannon getty, union
We are very pleased to announce that our documentary Justice for All? has been accepted into the Canadian Labour Internationl Film Festival (CLiFF).
CLiFF is an extremely viral festival, holding screenings across the country on a volunteer basis. Once the actual festival takes place in Toronto during the week of November 22nd, the films are sent to various “screenings” across Canada for maximum exposure.
If you are interested in either hosting or attending a screening, check out the list of participating communities.
Justice for All? was produced by PEA staff through the support of dozens of volunteers and Cinevic. The short documentary has become a social media hit as part of our umbrella campaign AccessToJustice.ca.
Click below to watch the honoured video:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: access to justice, attorney general, british columbia, d. mayland mckimm, justice system, Legal Services Society, low income, LSS, michael de jong, mike jobke, PEA, professional employees association
At its Biennial Convention in May, members of the Professional Employees Association (PEA) – the union representing Lawyers at the Legal Services Society of BC, confirmed their unanimous commitment to ensuring all residents have equal access to justice.
Several resolutions were brought to the membership at the convention to continue supporting the ‘Access To Justice’ cause. One of the ways the PEA is doing so is through a letter from the PEA’s president, Mike Jobke:
Professional Employees Association
201-1001 Wharf St
Victoria BC V8W 1T6October 22, 2009
Honourable Michael de Jong
Attorney General
PO BOX 9044 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA BC V8W 9E2Dear Mr. de Jong:
Re: Legal Aid Funding
The Professional Employees Association represents 3,000 employed professionals in B.C., including lawyers employed by the Law Society of B.C., the Legal Services Society, and the Family Maintenance Enforcement Program.
Delegates to our recent convention confirmed our Association’s commitment to the pursuit of an appropriately funded and designed legal aid program for British Columbians.
Our members are well aware of the budget pressures facing your government. However, the repeated reduction of legal aid funding and services in recent years is short-sighted and ultimately costly. Aside from the additional and significant costs to taxpayers resulting from self-represented litigants wasting precious court resources, legal aid is an effective tool for assisting the social integration of marginalized and vulnerable individuals. The social and economic costs of our present legal aid system are simply too great to sustain.
On this basis, we urge your government to:
- immediately restore funding for legal aid to the pre-2002 level; and
- within the next year, hold public hearings with the purpose of renewing the commitment to legal aid in B.C.
I look forward to hearing from you on these matters.
Sincerely,
Michael Jobke, RPF
PresidentC: D. Mayland McKimm, QC, Board Chair, Legal Services Society
For a PDF copy of this letter, click here:
