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PAGE 4 NEWS Review frees $20M at LAO Continued from page 1 can't do that at a pay phone. Some people will access these services continually, but the large majority will not because they are simply not appropriate. They are inaccessible to the poorest and most vulnerable Ontarians." Raoul Boulakia, chairman of the Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid, says that while phone and Internet services can be useful, he worries LAO is diverting money from more deserving causes. "You can't just say that's a neat idea as if the money won't come from anywhere. It's coming at the expense of something more useful and at the expense of the poor. There's an ideological decision that's been made for the first time in the history of legal aid, which is to treat web and telephone service as something that should be spent on at the expense of representation." But McKillop denied that claim at the town hall meeting, instead calling the new services a "comple- ment" to those already offered. "If the need of the client is one-on-one representation, that is the ser- vice they will be provided. It's as simple as that." McKillop also noted an administrative review at LAO had freed up $20 million in savings over the last two years. But with Law Foundation of Ontario revenues sinking to less than $5 million from a peak of $57 million two years ago, Boulakia says the fig- ures don't add up. "On the one hand, they're saying we've got this huge drop in money from the law foundation, but on the other hand they're saying no cuts to service, in fact an increase and some brand-new services. It's just impossible." While the phone service at LAO has expanded, recent cuts have fuelled fears that it's squeezing in- dividual representation services. The clinic resource office, for example, had its budget reduced. At the same time, as of April 1, LAO no longer funds civil litigation cases. Swadron says the lack of consultation from LAO has lawyers worrying where the next cuts will come from. "The process is so opaque. We'll probably find out after they're made." Boulakia sees the changes as a reaction to pro- fessor Michael Trebilcock's 2008 review of legal aid. The University of Toronto academic noted the num- ber of people qualifying for legal aid had shrunk and recommended more services for the middle class. "The idea behind this web stuff is that it's avail- able to everybody, the rich and the poor, so it will make more people like legal aid," Boulakia says. "It will allow people who are unrepresented to know something about the law but it's really not useful for poor people or people who really need representa- tion. Just talking to someone on the phone with- out personal in-depth attention is very dangerous in litigation." LT May 10, 2010 • Law TiMes Lawyer asks: 'Or is God the author?' Continued from page 1 articles of our constitution," he said. "If the claim really is brought by the Aga Khan, then there will be no dispute to resolve at all," he added. Both defendants reinforce their allegiance to the Aga Khan in their statements of de- fence. In Jiwa's case, he says he "seeks to carefully abide by his imam's Farmans" and will "not knowingly refuse to abide" by them. If the Aga Khan does ob- ject to their distribution, Jiwa says he will "submit to the in- structions of his imam without reservation whatsoever." It's in those expressions of be- lief and devotion that Gray sees a potential solution to the case. "They clearly believe in what they are doing and don't think the Aga Khan is against them," he says. "We are looking for the most convenient or maybe the least inconvenient way for the Aga Khan to convince them that he authorizes this action, short of flying him over to To- ronto simply because this has happened. That is something he does not wish to do." Gray is hoping a sworn statement or affidavit from the Aga Khan will be enough to resolve the matter, but earlier pleas to halt allegedly fell on deaf ears. A spokesperson for the Aga Khan previously told Law Times the imam and his brother had warned the defen- dants to stop distribution of their book. In his e-mail, Jiwa denies this, while Tajdin alleges in his statement of defence that correspondence he received from the Aga Khan bore a forged signature. If the action does proceed, Diamonds are a lawyer's best friend Susan Beaubien, an intellectual property lawyer with Macera & Jarzyna LLP in Ottawa, says the case still revolves around the key issues of whether the works themselves are copyrightable and what right the defendants had to use them. In cases involving religious figures, she says establishing the ownership of works is far from straightforward. "In order for copyright to attach to a work, the work must be original to the author. Presumably, the court will be hearing evidence as to whether these texts were personally au- thored by the plaintiff imam or whether he is acting as a con- duit to relay divine teaching to the religious faithful. If the evidence shows that the imam is transmitting divine wisdom, can the work be original in the sense of having been personally authored by him? Or is God the author?" Apart from the explicit con- sent the defendants claim they received in 1992, Jiwa says that by encouraging Ismailis to abide by his teachings, "the Aga Khan has impliedly given his consent to the Ismailis to have access to his Farmans." He also argues the books You don't need to search through mountains of irrelevant decisions in our online services. Select decisions chosen by experts are denoted with a to help you quickly identify the best decisions first. Then you can consider the rest of your search results. Diamond decisions are available in the following Canada Law Book online services: • BestCase • Canadian Employment Law (Ball) • Canadian Patent Reporter online • Criminal Pleadings & Practice (Ewaschuk) • Criminal Spectrum • Dominion Law Reports online • Labour Spectrum For product details and pricing information visit www.canadalawbook.ca Law Report_Diamond (LT 1-2x4).indd 1 www.lawtimesnews.com 4/13/10 3:57:34 PM were not for profit and notes he vetted all recipients to en- sure the copies went only to Ismailis. Without explicitly plead- ing it in their defence, Beau- bien says the defendants could mount a case under the fair-use provision of the Copyright Act if the works are found to be copyrightable. "The defendants seem to be saying that the imam's followers have to obey these pronounce- ments, but they are not easily or widely available to them. The materials being sold by the defendants are said to provide needed access to the imam's teachings. That raises the issue as to whether the fair-use provi- sions of the Copyright Act are broad enough to shield what the defendants are doing." LT

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