A good chunk of the legal aid services for refugees will be suspended starting on July 1 as Legal Aid Ontario struggles to find 40 per cent in budget savings from serving the vulnerable group.

It is too early to confirm what services would be cut from the refugee law program as a province-wide consultation is set to begin on Thursday, but three options are under consideration:

Suspending all refugee and immigration services when funding runs out in August and September

Restricting the coverage to the representation of asylum-seekers in their refugee proceedings, such as filing claims and preparation for and attendance at hearings

Limiting coverage for asylum-seekers to the preparation of the claim only, but continuing to represent clients at the refugee appeals tribunal and federal court.

“LAO has supported over-expenditures in the refugee program for a number of years and cannot do so any longer, given the increase in demand for services and LAO’s budget challenges in other programs,” the agency said in the consultation paper posted on its website Friday.

“LAO recognizes that this will have a serious impact on vulnerable clients and that difficult choices will regrettably need to be made to achieve a balanced-budget plan.”

The agency’s refugee program has historically cost $20 million annually.

However, over the past two years, the cost has increased dramatically, to $27 million last year, and it is forecast to rise to $33.6 million in 2017, thanks to the spike of asylum-seekers crossing the border from the U.S.

As refugee and immigration laws fall under the federal government, Ottawa contributes about $7 million a year to LAO’s refugee program but that base amount has not changed since 2002.

In December, after LAO threatened to pull its refugee services due to a budget shortfall, both Ontario and Ottawa injected a one-off sum of $7.72 million to help it through the crisis.

Advocates said they could see the writing on the wall when Ottawa refused to make any substantial increase in its legal aid support for refugees in the 2017 budget in April.

“This cut is a major concern for our member organizations who work very hard to serve these vulnerable people by filling the gaps with volunteers and donations,” said Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

“The issue of legal aid is part of the tension between the federal and Ontario governments.

“These people are vulnerable and voiceless and have no votes.

“They are the easy targets of government infighting, the first ones on the chopping board when governments want to save money.”

Osgoode Hall Law School professor Sean Rehaag said the $13.1-million cut to the refugee program represents a “minuscule” 2 per cent of LAO’s overall budget.

“All the social scientific research shows that access to high quality legal counsel is a key driver of outcomes in refugee claims,” said Rehaag.

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“In other words, if LAO decides to proceed with this proposal, the direct result will be that, at least, some people who would otherwise have been granted refugee protection in Canada will be deported.”

Rehaag said he is not sure if LAO’s service suspension is just political posturing.

“If they are just threatening cuts to get the federal government to give them more cash, then they’re playing a reckless game of chicken using the lives of refugees as the stakes,” he said.