Concerns raised about future of Legal Aid
Legal Aid lawyers and staff are concerned about the future of the free program in cities including Prince Albert which helps the most vulnerable and marginalized people who can ill-afford legal assistance. This follows recent job cuts. However, Legal Aid’s management says changes have been made to better serve clients.
CUPE said it is now marshalling support from a number of quarters following a recent and unexpected move to axe most duty counsel jobs in their Saskatoon office. They said that work was now set to be contracted out to private lawyers.
“Now we’re really wondering what this means for the rest of the province,” long-time Legal Aid lawyer and CUPE local 1949 vice president Deb Hopkins told paNOW. “This has been sprung on us with absolutely no notice and without a coherent explanation as to why, and that sends shock waves throughout the system.”
Hopkins said three of four duty council lawyers were laid off in Saskatoon along with six support staff while the “chronically underfunded” Legal Aid Saskatchewan was suffering from an extreme, escalating workload. She indicated the motive for the changes was to save costs and address the high remand rate of around 53 per cent of clients, but she’s not accepting that.