Law Times

PAGE 2 NEWS June 7, 2010 • Law Times Report sheds light on civil legal needs Information key so people don't need a lawyer right away, AG says BY MICHAEL McKIERNAN Law Times sessing the challenges low- and middle-income Ontarians are facing, former chief justice Roy McMurtry says. McMurtry, chairman of the steering committee for the On- tario Civil Legal Needs Project, launched its fi rst report, "Lis- tening to Ontarians," at Os- goode Hall last week and hailed it as a unique study in an area lacking in statistics. Th e proj- ect is a joint eff ort by Legal Aid Ontario, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and Pro Bono Law Ontario. "For the fi rst time, we have solid comprehensive data on how low- and middle-income Ontarians fare when they en- counter the justice system," he said. "We no longer have to rely on anecdotal evidence, opinion or uninformed commentary." Compiled by telephone sur- A veys of people whose household income is less than $75,000 and focus groups with front-line new report into civil le- gal needs will take the guesswork out of as- legal service providers, the report found 35 per cent of participants had encountered a non-criminal legal problem in the last three years. One in 10 had multiple problems. Of those who encountered problems, 76 per cent said they were disruptive to their life and 71 per cent reported suff ering at least one serious impact, such as stress-related illnesses, relationship break- downs or losing their job. Lorne Sossin, vice chair- man of PBLO and principal researcher for the report, said it shows people from various income levels have diff erent experiences with the justice system. "Th ose in extreme eco- nomic and social need have a complexity to their needs and a cascading of many needs together that simply can't be treated the same as someone of greater means," he said. Lenny Abramowicz, execu- tive director of the Association of Community Legal Clin- ics of Ontario, welcomed the report, saying it backs up his to hear the comments about the fact that there's no one- size-fi ts-all solution because that's also something we see on a daily basis dealing with the poorest and most disem- powered individuals at legal clinics." Th e report also found that 'For the first time, we have solid comprehensive data on how low- and middle-income Ontarians fare,' says Roy McMurtry. own observations of the justice system. "From our perspective, it validates what we in the trench- es see on a daily basis: that there is a pervasive need for services for civil needs in this province. I'm also heartened low- and middle-income Ontarians believe the justice system is simply out of their price range. Almost 80 per cent think it works better for rich people than the poor. Just one-third felt there are enough free and aff ordable services available to them, and by far the main reason people avoided seeking legal assistance was a perception that it would cost too much. Derry Millar, treasurer of the LSUC, said legal organi- zations must challenge that perception. "Th e very complexity of the courts, the tribunals, the forms, the rules can of them- selves become a barrier to ac- cess to justice," he said. "We need to fi nd more ways to en- courage more people to use the existing resources available to them. People often cannot fi nd legal help because they did not know where to look." Sossin emphasized the en- couraging signs in the report while acknowledging that "one person's unmet needs is too many." Still, he pointed out that two-thirds of those surveyed hired lawyers and more than 80 per cent of those found them somewhat or very help- ful. Half of respondents also resolved their legal problems for less than $1,000. More than one-third indi- cated they'd prefer to deal with their matters on their own with some legal advice while just 13 per cent said they'd rather use a formal process such as a court or a tribunal. Attorney General Chris Bentley noted legal organiza- tions can help people resolve their problems in non-tradi- tional ways. "You don't have to have a law degree to access informa- tion," he said. "Our obligation is to make sure that informa- tion is tailored so that people can easily use it and advance the resolution of their prob- lems without necessarily hav- ing to have a lawyer on their side at the beginning." LAO chairman John Mc- Camus said his organization has already started out on that path. "Th e report confi rms that we in legal aid are on the right path with our ongoing and challenging transformation of our legal service delivery mod- el, including the expansion of our advice and information services. Legal representation will always be at some times necessary. At the same time, it cannot be and should not be the only solution." As the civil legal needs proj- ect advances, Sossin envisions a co-ordinated source of infor- mation and resources for On- tarians of all income levels. "People are looking for a one-click solution," he said. "Th e elusive goal is for all these organizations to work together to make the experience more seamless for the user, even though the content and service may be coming from diverse providers." For LSUC Bencher Marion Boyd, the report is only the beginning for the project that forms a solid foundation for further study. "Th e purpose of doing all this data collection is to have a huge body of data that then research- ers at universities and founda- tions can dip into and do de- tailed analysis," she said. LT At Kent Legal we know not just anybody can do the job. 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