Via a Sept. 4, 2024, media release from Alberta Justice, the provincial government, LAA and the Law Society of Alberta jointly announced that “through a collaborative process” they had signed a governance agreement “representing a shared understanding of the importance of a high-quality, independent and sustainable legal aid program.”
From left: Ryan Callioux, Legal Aid Alberta board chair; Mickey Amery, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Alberta; Deanna Steblyk, Law Society of Alberta president
LAA told Law360 Canada it had no one available to comment on the deal’s specifics, but the chair of its board, Ryan Callioux, commented in a statement that “access to justice is a fundamental right for all Albertans. Key to this is an independent legal aid system and this agreement specifically codifies these values.”
Callioux stated that “we continue to respect that the government of Alberta has a critical role to ensure fiscal responsibility. Strengthening legal aid will include ongoing conversations that involve the parties to this agreement and our funders, stakeholders and partners, with a commitment to supporting the legal needs of Albertans.”
And in a Sept. 4, 2024, update sent to the lawyers on LAA’s roster, Callioux said the new governance agreement “allows LAA to continue carrying out that mission. It also codifies that access to justice is a fundamental right for all Albertans, one key to which is an independent legal aid system.”
“Importantly,” Callioux added, “the new governance agreement also provides that the government of Alberta will continue to work with and consult LAA, the Law Society of Alberta and other key members of the justice system to ensure decisions regarding the future direction of legal aid are data-driven and guided by the legal needs of vulnerable Albertans.”
Callioux also emphasized that LAA “recognizes and appreciates the critical role that our roster lawyers play in the delivery of the legal aid plan. We are confident that the new governance agreement will allow our roster lawyers to continue their essential work in delivering the legal aid plan and provide the stability and predictability needed to execute that work without distraction.”
For its part, the law society said it “is pleased that a long-term arrangement is in place so that Legal Aid Alberta is funded to carry on its vital work in helping vulnerable Albertans.”
“A strong justice system is supported by an equally strong and independent legal aid program. This agreement upholds that principle,” Law Society of Alberta present Deanna Steblyk said in her statement.
The parties did not highlight many specifics of their 29-page detailed governance agreement, other than to note it provides “for ongoing consultations” among the parties and “justice system partners that will guide the future direction of legal aid services and funding.” It also features “enhanced collaboration and ensuring that legal aid in Alberta is efficient, responsive to Albertans’ needs, sustainably funded and fiscally responsible,” they said.
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery
“Our goal is to ensure the sustainability and fiscal accountability of legal aid for all Albertans now and into the future, and this new agreement puts us on the right track,” Amery said in a statement.
The province said its government “will continue to work with and consult” LAA, the law society, “and other key members of the justice system to ensure decisions regarding the future direction of legal aid services in the province are data-driven and guided by the legal needs of vulnerable Albertans. Alberta’s government remains committed to the continuity of legal aid services, funding and working with our partners.”
Paul Moreau, Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association
“Overall, we’re quite happy with it,” Moreau told Law360 Canada. “It’s certainly quite a bit longer than the previous agreement. There appear to be more protections financially for legal aid, including more commitments by the [justice] minister to ensuring that corresponding funding is available for the approved services.”
“Some of the things that we like are that the preamble includes acknowledgments about the importance of uninterrupted service delivery and the importance of consultation,” he explained. “We like that there’s now express reference in the required tariff reviews to considering other factors, including the need to assign complex files to appropriate lawyers and the need to attract senior lawyers to the Legal Aid roster. That was never in the previous agreements.”
As well, the deal puts “clearer rules in place in the event that a new governance agreement is not reached” next time, Moreau said. “The previous agreements never really provided anything in the sense of a termination provision or what happens if the agreements are not renewed. They were just silent about that.
“And I think the sort of scare that we all got a couple months ago when it looked like the agreement was not going to be renewed and everybody’s sort of thinking … ‘Well, what happens now?’ And no one had ever thought about that before, really, because it was unthinkable that you wouldn’t have legal aid. So now the governance agreement provides for that situation.”
Moreau said the agreement also contains some unclear language. “There is some kind of odd language which is a bit cryptic about … if any new [legal aid] structure is proposed, or new model is proposed by which legal aid will be delivered, then the minister must consult with certain parties, which includes the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association,” he explained. “And we’re … happy to be consulted — that’s great.”
But “we’re not sure what’s meant by a new structure or new model.”
The co-president of the Alberta Family Lawyers Association (AFLA), Wayne Barkauskas of Calgary’s Wise Scheible Barkauskas Family Law, highlighted that the new governance agreement specifies that the government will consult “with respect to the design and structure of any proposed new model by which the Legal Aid Plan and Legal Aid Services are delivered to Albertans” with named stakeholders, including the province’s bar groups. “We see this as a positive sign that the signatories recognize the importance of legal aid to Albertans facing critical family law” matters, Barkauskas told Law360 Canada.
Along with the AFLA and “any other stakeholder the minister may wish to invite,” the agreement names the organizations to be consulted: the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Canadian Bar Association — Alberta Branch, the Alberta Native Counselling Services, the Red Deer Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Southern Alberta Defense Lawyers Association and the Alberta Law Foundation.
Consultations are to be undertaken “in alignment with” a focus of “minimal impact to frontline service delivery, including courts and Albertans seeking service through the legal aid plan.” The parties to the agreement commit in that context also to “continue to be guided by respect for the principle of independence,” as that principle is described in their agreement.
The areas of consultation with stakeholders include “considerations of potential legislation and impacts, governance and service delivery models and potential costing considerations.”
Legal Aid Alberta’s 2024-25 grant is budgeted to be $110 million. The tariff rate for legal aid roster lawyers was raised on Jan. 1, 2023, to $125 per hour from $100 per hour, following job action by the defence bar who protested what they said was chronic and severe underfunding of legal aid in the province.
According to LAA, its work over the past year included: 120,000 duty counsel in-court assists; 80,000 contact centre calls; 41,000 certificates issued for criminal, family and immigration cases; 32,000 Justice of the Peace bail hearings; 14,000 Brydges calls from police stations; and 2,500 emergency protection orders involving families.
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