Law Times

Page 6 March 19, 2018 • Law TiMes www.lawtimesnews.com COMMENT u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday Family law matters L egal aid funding is a tricky matter. There are limited resources for unlimited issues with the justice system, a sentiment I have often heard repeated by those tasked with figuring out how best to prioritize certain public policy issues with the public purse. This week, Law Times reports on how some Ontario lawyers have voiced concern with the federal justice minister's response to recom- mendations by a Commons committee on how to improve legal aid in Canada. In the recent federal budget, there was $12.8 million in additional legal aid funding announced to go toward assisting asylum seekers and $25.4 million over five years for victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. However, Toronto lawyer Avvy Yao-Yao Go has isolated an im- portant issue with legal aid funding when it comes to those who are grappling with family law matters. Go told Law Times that when it comes to Legal Aid, family law is one of the most pressing areas, particularly in cases of domestic violence, which the budget has not addressed. The committee is aware of this issue, as it notes in its Oc- tober 2017 report. "Family law is the area where witnesses were most critical of lim- ited legal aid coverage. While a right to state-funded counsel for par- ents has been recognized under section 7 of the Charter where the state seeks custody of a child, other areas of family law do not general- ly benefit from such a right," said the report. "Nonetheless, family law matters can affect the interests of the par- ties as much as criminal cases, particularly where children are involved." This gap has a gendered component, as the report notes that women "make up 70 per cent of applicants in family law." There is a reason for this. An LAO of- ficial, David McKillop, explained that "when legal aid plans are looking to save money or cut back services, they naturally go to their family programs because there's very little in that sphere, beyond the child pro- tection services, that is … constitutionally protected." While additional funding for Legal Aid organiz- ations across the country from the federal govern- ment is a good thing, there's clearly more to be done when it comes to family law. While it may not be as topical as others areas, it is undoubtedly justly de- serving. LT ©2018 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . Jacqueline D'Souza Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford Police Act changes an arresting development BY IAN HARVEY B ill 175, the Safer Ontario Act, 2018, which received Royal as- sent last week, is long overdue and generally brings more trans- parency and accountability over actions taken by police officers. There are three main areas of change. Two of them aren't overly dramatic in the eyes of police unions. However, one has raised fears about opening the door for outsourcing and raises strong objections. The new act affects some 75 acts in all, but it directly impacts the Police Ser- vices Act, 1990 and a handful of others. It follows a 2017 report by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Michael Tull- och. Tulloch reviewed the three civilian oversight bodies, the Special Investiga- tions Unit, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. He met with 1,500 people in 17 public consultations and more than 130 private meetings before making a slate of 130 recommendations, almost all of which found their way into Bill 175 and are now law. For lawyers, there are myriad impacts. The new act could affect labour nego- tiations that involve munici- palities, police boards and police disciplinary forums. There will no doubt be a learning curve. First, police officers face stiffer penalties, including fines up to $50,000, for fail- ing to co-operate with the Special Investigations Unit. Under the new bill, the SIU also gets more powers to investigate police and to lay criminal charges as appropriate. "Really, there's never been a case of a single police office refusing to co-operate with the SIU," says Bruce Chapman, pres- ident of the Police Association of Ontario. "It is more that one jurisdiction where something happens involving a police officer might fail to report that to the of- ficer's police service." The second major change allows for police officers to be suspended without pay if they are charged with criminal of- fences while on duty. Chapman says these inci- dents are extremely rare. "There are about 26,000 sworn police officers and the number charged with crimi- nal offences on duty is astro- nomically small," Chapman says, adding that the new rules provide limitations on suspension without pay, which provides protection. It's the third major change that is the most controver- sial. That's the yet-to-be-detailed defini- tion of what policing is and what it isn't. Chapman says this change in definition could open the door for outsourcing jobs to "non-police personnel." The definition of a police officer's job and what could be privatized will come in the form of later regulation, but, os- tensibly, Chapman says, it could open the door to replace paid-duty officers at constructions sites, for example. Even making the Scenes of Crime Officers a non-police job wouldn't be a big deal, he says, since those science- background techs would have a univer- sity degree and command a comparable salary. There could be opportunities beyond a police officer for positions such as the traffic f low wardens for which Toronto Mayor John Tory is planning. Of the 129 recommendations Tull- och made, the OPA supports more than 100 unequivocally and some without comment, but Chapman says the is- sue of police privatization is manifestly problematic, as is the provision that even retirement doesn't end an internal disciplinary charge against a police of- ficer. "You only have to look at the U.K., where police privatization has been a massive failure, with police being cut 20 per cent and crime going up 14 per cent," he says. "The fear [is] we're going to have more police disengagement and crime will go up, and solvency will go down." LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years, writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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