Justice committee  Mr. Chair, it's an honour to appear before the committee today on behalf of the Canadian Bar Association. I want to thank you for inviting us to appear with you today. The justice system in Canada today is in crisis. Many Canadians cannot afford legal representation, including

Justice committee  My understanding is that with respect to family law, 70% of the applicants for family law are women. They are still highly dependent on legal aid. As I mentioned, civil legal aid being decreased over the years has had a significant impact. In fact, you'll find, at least in Ontari

Justice committee  Of course, it's a provincial responsibility. There's no question about that. However, the Criminal Code is a matter of federal jurisdiction. The administration of justice is up to the provinces, but so is health. We think the federal government can play a constructive role. It ha

Justice committee  With respect to the publicly paid system, there has to be some kind of minimum standard for income. This is not intended to be universal legal care we're talking about here. What that minimum income is can be negotiated. Whether it's the basic poverty level, whatever that may be,

Justice committee  One thing we need to recognize is that when a person has legal problems, there is a ripple effect. It affects their income, it affects their employment, it affects their health, and it affects their housing. What we have to recognize is that any framework has to take that into ac

Justice committee  The key there is the funding, of course.

Justice committee  I think that taking it out of the social transfer, the CST, would be a good start. Also, the benchmarks would be helpful, too, because you're quite right; it's not just women in family law. My clinic, for example, handles a lot of landlord and tenant issues and many people with m

Justice committee  Correct.

Justice committee  For example, in London—and I can only speak to London—at the landlord and tenant board, there is a duty counsel who does not do any hearings. He simply meets with people ahead of time. They go in there on their own against landlords who have sophisticated lawyers or paralegals. I

Justice committee  It comes down to priorities. The provinces have been under a lot of pressure to fund health care and education, in particular, and as a result, the justice system has not been given a priority. We're operating now, members, with a 20th-century or even a 19th-century court system

Justice committee  Lawyers charge based on the market, right? They take what the market can bear, but one of the reasons the costs are so high is that they are part of the system and the system has built-in delays. It takes too long, so that's why lawyers' fees go up. I think if we could somehow si

Justice committee  I think that the funding should model.... I wouldn't link civil to criminal, personally. I think we need to come to that agreement I talked about with the provinces. You have to set the benchmarks. What is the income of the people you're going to provide legal aid to? Make an est

Justice committee  Civil legal aid should cover what we call “essential legal needs”. My colleague has it here, if I may refer to our report, “Essential legal needs are legal problems or situations that put into jeopardy a person or a person’s family’s liberty, personal safety and security, health,

Justice committee  That's correct. They have a national partnership agreement on legal assistance services and it's an agreement between the federal government and the states and territories of Australia.

Justice committee  I think that there is a moral role to play here. The federal government is the protector of Canadians' rights. There are so many issues that come before the federal government that have been given priority and this one has not. I think this has to be given a top priority by the D