There is only one reason for the current strike led by legal aid lawyers: Quebec refuses to allow them to maintain pay parity with the prosecutors of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), thus denying a principle recognized since over 30 years.
Posted at 12:00 p.m.
This is a basic question of justice: legal aid lawyers and Crown lawyers argue the same cases, in the same courts, before the same judges.
Why does Quebec refuse to allow the defense to be on the same footing as the prosecution?
Anyone who has had to appear in a courthouse in Quebec can testify that in many courtrooms, legal aid lawyers occupy half the role and the cases that are heard there daily.
These lawyers, dedicated to a sometimes very vulnerable clientele, who find themselves at the heart of often urgent and complex situations, have in-depth knowledge of the justice system and are front-line players.
Together, nationally, they form one of the largest law firms in Quebec.
This pay parity is a principle that the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, as well as the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, have both recognized in the past.
Recall that the first was a Crown prosecutor at the DPCP before continuing her public service in active politics and that the second is still a member of the Barreau du Québec.
What is happening so that the two ministers responsible for the negotiations refuse to grant the mandates to the representatives of the Treasury Board so that they do not settle our file?
The lawyers we represent feel devalued and frustrated to have to go back on strike for this elementary principle which, at each negotiation, must be reaffirmed.
The most cynical will say that by doing so, the government is turning its nose up at the people’s lawyers.
Remember that our clientele is made up of mothers who are heads of families, women victims of domestic and sexual violence, minor children, immigrant families, citizens struggling with mental health problems, road accident victims and labor and defendants entitled to the highest quality representation.
Many families who can earn up to $59,000 will have to resort to it in the coming months: some will be subject to renovictions, others will have to resort to a protection plan for a loved one with a loss of autonomy.
We are there for them.
The Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec, Jacques R. Fournier, has more than once recognized the role of legal aid not only in access to justice, but also as a source of legal economy, thus allowing several litigants not to have to represent themselves alone before the courts.
In turn, we recognize him for having been so successful in reaffirming, again very recently, the need for a strong and accessible justice system that can rely on available, qualified and competent personnel.
It is exactly in this context that legal aid lawyers are asking that, at a minimum, their pay parity be maintained with that of Crown prosecutors.
In these times of galloping inflation and labor shortages, it is a matter of maintaining our workforce and retaining our dedicated lawyers who work to serve litigants nationwide.
With Laurence CotePresident of the Syndicate of Legal Aid Lawyers of Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie–CSN and Melanie GaudreaultPresident of the Union of Legal Aid Lawyers of the Laurentians and Lanaudière–CSN