Watch a youtube clip from Sept 23, 2009 of MPP Ontario Yasir Naqvi ask the attorney General about the Province's Legal aid plan - regarding family law Click here for the Clip.
In my slightly biased opinion, legal aid is not only underfunded, but the inactivity of the Provincial government to innovate the way legal aid, advice, information and representation is delivered to not only our less wealthy litigants, but the middle class too, has created a lot of inequity in the family law process.
If we look at what British Columbia has done within the past year, setting up Family Law assistance to the public through centers run by the Legal Services Society it is clear that family law litigants in that Province have a much easier path to information, advice, and aid than their Ontario counterparts. In fact, the Law Help Ontario centers in every courthouse in Ontario often do not provide assistance with family law related matters.
Here in Ontario private business like mine has had to fill the gaps. With the tightness of the Provincial budget what it is, this is unlikely to change. People will have to rely on a certain amount of goodwill from lawyers and legal professionals to get some discounted legal advice, until the underpinning structure of the legal system regarding family law and legal assistance to litigants is innovated.
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