We have both.
To clarify what I was trying to say, we're always in a resource crunch. This is always the argument against more and more lawyers entering the system. We are very much in support of proper legal counsel with a proper role in the law, but there are additional things that happen in cases of gender-based violence that women require which are outside of the purview of a lawyer's expertise. Lawyers are not always the best people to glue women back to the systems that they need to support them in their social life. What we have in Ontario is a combination.
You may know that the legal aid system in Ontario has a minimal amount of support for family law. Often women who are experiencing violence have multiple family law issues. In our clinic, which is not legal aid supported, we provide representation in family law.
Additionally, we have three workers whose job is to navigate that system with her, so that she understands the system and she gets the social supports she needs, like housing, income support, access to child care, access to children's aid, or whatever it is she needs in that context. Additionally, these workers know the family law system well enough that they can be the ones that literally run down the hall and make sure duty counsel is on tap or make sure that the legal aid certificate is being applied for when she's eligible for it.
It's that glue in the system which we believe would help in the case of sexual assault. Again, since we're talking about a different scenario, where she doesn't have legal standing, in addition to legal counsel, what we're looking for is independent legal advice, in addition to which she will have some kind of specialized support in the court system that is not victim services because victim services has a limited role and they cannot discuss anything that has to do with the dispensation of the case, as you probably know.
In order to have proper support that's in her corner, we're suggesting an additional element beyond strictly legal.