Legal-aid dispute heats up

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This article was published 02/02/2020 (1691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three weeks after Manitoba’s private defence lawyers called off plans for a temporary walkout, they’re expected to go ahead with a bail court strike to protest against legal-aid pay rates that haven’t been raised in 12 years.

Roughly 150 criminal defence lawyers are set to stop representing new and existing clients in bail courts across the province starting today. They haven’t announced an end date to the job action. The move means staff lawyers with Legal Aid Manitoba will likely be expected to conduct all bail hearings.

“This is a last resort on our part, but we feel like we have no option because we’re not being taken seriously,” said Gerri Wiebe, president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba.

On Sunday, Legal Aid Manitoba spokesman Sam Raposo said Legal Aid hadn’t received formal notice of the job action.

Wiebe met with Justice Minister Cliff Cullen on Jan. 27, the same day the province released a long-awaited report on Legal Aid Manitoba. It listed 15 recommendations for change, including updating the tariff and raising private lawyers’ pay for legal aid cases. The defence lawyers association cancelled a bail court walkout in mid-January after the minister’s office asked for a meeting, but Wiebe said her members want to see the government take immediate action to increase pay.

A committee of private defence lawyers met last week and decided to put job action back on the table. They’ve been taking on legal aid cases for what they say is too little pay.

Most people who are charged with a crime in Manitoba receive legal aid. Most of those cases are contracted out to private lawyers who bill Legal Aid Manitoba based on an $80 per hour tariff that is set by provincial legislation. The pay rate hasn’t been changed or adjusted for cost of living since 2008. Staff lawyers who are employed by Legal Aid Manitoba, meanwhile, have received salary increases, as have provincial Crown attorneys.

“The justice department has been pretty clear that they are in… the beginning of a process of consultation to make some changes to legal aid. There’s no time frame specified for that consultation process or for the changes to be made,” Wiebe said. “And so we are looking for some interim action with respect to the tariff.”

Wiebe said private lawyers want an “immediate end” to Legal Aid Manitoba’s practice of diverting domestic violence cases to its own staff lawyers. The money-saving measure has been in place for more than a year. Before that, Legal Aid Manitoba did the same with charges involving breach-of-court orders. Private lawyers had some input on those practices when they were implemented.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay