“I’ve been doing this work for decades and never faced a situation this dire,” NPDCLS executive director Jack Fleming said. “Eighty-six per cent of the cut is coming out of poor people.”

Fleming is referring to the percentage of the total cuts to the Ministry of the Attorney General’s budget. Of the total $154.3 million in cuts from the ministry this year, $133 million (86 per cent) is being slashed from Legal Aid Ontario.

A letter from Attorney General Caroline Mulroney to LAO CEO David Field claims the number of people served each year by LAO has declined from 2013-14 to 2017-18. She also adds “better accountability is required” based on the Auditor General’s 2018 report.

In that report, the Auditor General says from 2013-14 to 2017-18 the number of certificates issued by LAO increased by 23 per cent, the number of people assisted by duty counsel increased two per cent, and from 2013-14 to 2016-17, the number of community legal clinic files increased 12 per cent.

“They’re looking for efficiencies, but they fail to mention the legal aid audit,” MCLS executive director Doug Kwan said. “It shows that legal aid’s doing a good job.”

“Nowhere in the response does it ever say you need to cut the situation,” he added.

In the 15 recommendations outlined in the Auditor General’s report, none of them talk about cutting LAO’s budget. Instead, they recommend improved oversight of payments to private-sector lawyers and suggest the Ministry of the Attorney General work with the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services to reduce the number of ODSP cases, as an example, among other suggestions.

“Legal clinics can’t do much without cutting staff, that’s the bulk,” Fleming said.

North Peel and Dufferin serves Brampton, Caledon and Dufferin county with 10 lawyers, two paralegals, one ODSP case manager, one office manager and two client-service representatives requiring accreditation in social work.

Like MCLS, its cases involve housing, immigration and refugees, employment, family law and several cases involving mental health. Part of the cuts entirely remove the province's allocation of funding for immigration and refugee cases — common in Brampton and Mississauga.

“In Peel, family law is a big one,” Kwan said. “Three quarters of certificates go to women, and half of those involve cases of domestic violence.”

Some residents have already responded to the announced cuts. Mississauga ACORN protested outside Mississauga Centre MPP Natalia Kusendova’s constituency office on May 9. Kusendova was at Queen’s Park at the time.

“In regards to the issues ACORN delivered to the office, my response is that I have received the letter and will forward it to the Ministry for review promptly,” Kusendova wrote in response to media requesting comment on the protest.

Kwan says Peel is already underfunded in the justice sector, including the community legal clinics.

“We’re already behind the eight ball,” he said. “It’ll impact Peel even worse.”



Disclaimer: These poll results are not scientific. They are the informal findings of a survey presented to the readers of The Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian and reflect the opinions of those readers who have chosen to participate. The survey is available online to anyone who is interested in taking it.