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  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  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  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  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  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