02/10/2025
How do we do Access to Justice (or, First they came for Legal Aid...)
(This post is hosted at https://news.achievelegal.ca/2025/02/how-do-we-do-access-to-justice-or-first.html and is best viewed there, including hyperlinks and proper formatting)
A disturbing headline crossed my screen a month ago: "Potential changes to Legal Aid Alberta funding... " And honestly, like many others in my profession, I almost scrolled
right past it. After all, didn't they just do that dance last September with
the new
funding agreement ?
Then I got an e-mail from Calgary Legal Guidance. It linked to
DefendAccesstoJustice . It looks like we have a problem that's going to impact more than just Legal Aid.
Before I go on, I reviewed over 40 annual reports, news articles, and
analyses of Legal Aid funding in Alberta. For my podcast-loving readers, I
used Google's NotebookLM to generate an AI audio summary of this research. It's not perfect,
but it's a fascinating example of new technology. Give it a listen !
What's going on?
Legal Aid provides subsidized legal representation to low-income Albertans
(mostly in criminal and family law cases). It is funded by the government (75% of
its operating revenue), the Alberta Law Foundation (under 20%), and client
recoveries/donations (around 5%).
The Alberta Law Foundation (ALF) receives most of its funding through Interest
on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA). Lawyers in Alberta mostly deposit
client funds into pooled trust accounts. The interest earned on these accounts
is
required to
go to the ALF, which funds various legal
programs. ALF must put 25% of
its IOLTA revenue to Legal Aid—$38 million in 2024.
The rest goes to a
veritable laundry list of community programmes , from law libraries to public legal education to community legal assistance.
Calgary Legal Guidance (with which I have a
personal connection ), for example, gets over 70% of its funding from the ALF. These funds help
the people that Legal Aid doesn't represent by providing them with legal
advice, information, and services that help them help themselves.
Well, that requirement may be changing. The Provincial Government is
considering requiring ALF to send 50% of its IOLTA receipts to
Legal Aid Alberta, meaning that, in 2024, $38 million less would be available
for public legal assistance.
What's really going on?
The Alberta government wants to cut costs, but defunding Legal Aid is
unpopular. Is their solution just to force the ALF, whose revenues and
expenses are not shown in the Provincial Budget, to cover their cost cutting?
The honourable Ministers of His Majesty have not said. Believe me, I've asked.
I was promised confirmation if this shift in funds wasn't
going to happen.
I didn't receive that confirmation.
So it sure looks like a sleight of hand. The Ministry of Justice gets to claim a $38 million spending decrease in the upcoming "Recessionary Budget (thanks, Trump)TM " AND Legal Aid gets its funding. Who says no?
What's wrong with this picture?
25% of the ALF's IOLTA funds are already doing a lot of good elsewhere; and,
IOLTA is not a stabilizing force in community legal support.
Let's start with #2. The "I" in IOLTA is interest . This means that it
fluctuates with interest rates (which might be decreasing soon). The
ALF's IOLTA receipts ranged from $7 million to $156 million in the past six
years. Community organizations that rely on the ALF are used to this
volatility, but Legal Aid can't be.
Legal Aid is the first line of defense for Albertans facing legal trouble who
can't afford lawyers. But it's already underfunded. A family of four earning
over $50,000 a year likely won't qualify. A single person is ineligible around
$30k. These are current numbers - they could go down or not respond to
inflation if suddenly more of Legal Aid's funding is dependent on interest
rates.
Just for reference, the
Alberta Living Wage Network Calgarian living wage is estimated at $24.45/hour (about
$42,000.00/year).
So, what happens when that family of four loses their $55,000/year income or
Legal Aid suffers a massive decrease in its funding thanks to interest rates
plummeting? That family has to turn to ALF-funded community legal services
like Calgary Legal Guidance.
Here's the #1: the changes proposed will decrease the pool of money for those
community legal services by 33%. A 33% cut to over 70% of their budgets means
far fewer people served - especially those who fall through Legal Aid's
cracks. Community legal groups help vastly more people than Legal Aid with a
significantly wider field of issues. If you paper over Legal Aid's cracks
using pieces of the community groups, the community groups could wind up
catching less people.
If Legal Aid isn't being expanded to help more
people, and the safety net below it is shrinking, more people will be left
desperate. All, potentially, to make the government's budget look $38 million
smaller.
If you've come this far...
Look, I'm one of the last people to advocate for more government spending. I'm
still irate that we spent money
lobbying Hollywood to make more oil-friendly movies . For the record, that was a $30 million budget line.
However, community legal programs are essential. They're not just a safety
net; they're a foundation, providing legal information, advice, and even some
representation. They help students, Indigenous people, and many others. I've
seen the amazing work of
Calgary Legal Guidance
firsthand, and it's just one of
dozens of beneficiaries of the ALF . There's no backup plan below these services. Losing them means people will
be forced to choose between legal help and basic necessities.
Visit
DefendAccessToJustice.com to
learn how you can help protect access to justice in Alberta. Don't let them
get away with this shell game. We can cut budgets without locking the law
further behind a paywall.
https://news.achievelegal.ca/2025/02/how-do-we-do-access-to-justice-or-first.html
A disturbing headline crossed my screen a month ago: " Potential changes to Legal Aid Alberta funding... " And honestly, like many others...
