The Challenge
Legal Aid BC is a provincial Crown Corporation created by the Legal Services Society (LSS) Act in 1979 to provide legal information, advice, and representation services. Currently, most Indigenous people only have access to the legal aid services provided through Legal Aid BC. For many years Indigenous people have advocated for the transformation of legal aid services in BC due to broad and systemic concerns around its administration and funding. There are also concerns related to the availability and accessibility of legal aid for Indigenous accused with evidence demonstrating these challenges are even more intense in rural areas where, in some regions, up to 90% of legal aid clients are Indigenous. The current status quo of legal aid is a factor contributing to overincarceration and raises critical questions about how fundamental civil and legal rights guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms may not be upheld for Indigenous accused.
The Solution
To achieve this transformation, BCFNJC will work in partnership with the BC and Legal Aid BC to transfer legal aid services for Indigenous people to BCFNJC. Through Strategy 5, BCNJC will develop and administer an innovative and holistic model of legal aid that reflects the need for better, more effective, more culturally informed legal counsel and legal aid services for Indigenous people dealing with the criminal justice system.
