Representatives of non-profit organizations (NPOs) working in the field of access to justice unite their voices today to demand the adoption as soon as possible of Bill 34 aimed at improving access to justice in improving the offer of free or low-cost legal services.
Posted yesterday at 10:00 a.m.
According to the current law, lawyers who work in NPOs can only provide legal information. They cannot advise people on their particular situation or represent them. By considerably expanding the legal services that can be offered in NPOs, this bill represents an important step forward for access to justice for citizens, especially the most vulnerable.
Although its usefulness has been demonstrated, we have been able to experience, through the assistance we have provided to citizens for several decades, the limits of legal information and the need to expand the services offered by lawyers practicing in NPOs.
We see daily that citizens are put off by various obstacles when it comes to asserting their rights, whether it is the complexity of the procedures and the law, the investment required to obtain justice or even the lack of knowledge of their rights and how to exercise them. These citizens would need the help of a lawyer. However, in some cases, they cannot afford such services. In other cases, the value of the dispute is so low that it is not worth incurring legal fees.
Bill 34 will help reduce these obstacles to access to justice by allowing organizations to provide legal advice or represent citizens in litigation.
Although we strongly support Bill No.oh 34, we will closely monitor the terms of its implementation, which rests with the regulatory authorities, which will be able to set guidelines for the practice of the legal profession within an NPO.
We hope that the regulations enacted under Bill No.oh 34 will not pose excessive regulatory or administrative obstacles that would prevent organizations such as ours from providing legal services adapted to the reality of litigants.
Financial support
Finally, we believe that this bill will inevitably have to be accompanied by financial support for organizations to enable them to carry out their new mandate. Community organizations that provide legal information services are already struggling to meet the demand with their meager resources.
In short, if the modernization brought about by Bill no.oh 34 is without a doubt a positive step forward for litigants, the improvement of our service offer cannot be undertaken without sustained financial support.
* Co-signers: Mand Sophie Gagnon, General Manager of Juripop; Mand Sophie Lefebvre, Executive Director of the Mile End Legal Clinic; Mand Jennifer Fafard-Marconi, Director of the Community Justice Center of Greater Montreal on behalf of the management of the Community Justice Centers