Alberta defence lawyers stop taking new LAA cases amid wage dispute

Alberta’s criminal defence lawyers took further job action Monday amid a wage dispute with the province, refusing to take new cases from Legal Aid Alberta (LAA).

Alberta’s four criminal lawyer associations representing lawyers in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, and southern Alberta initially began job action on Aug. 8, refusing to accept certain bail and duty counsel files from legal aid.

Lawyers continued job action on Sept. 2 by protesting outside of the courts in Calgary and Edmonton in a 90-minute demonstration.

A Sept 22 statement from Alberta’s defence lawyers accused Justice Minister Tyler Shandro of inaction, and claimed he chose “chaos for Alberta’s courts.”

“The criminal justice system cannot function and access to justice in Alberta cannot occur without our participation, as all stakeholders already recognize. Unfortunately, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro has decided to ignore the fact that Alberta’s courts cannot properly function when his government cuts off help for our most vulnerable citizens and refuses to offer fair compensation to skilled professionals for their services,” the statement reads.

Lawyers add the situation they are in is the “predictable result of a shameful pattern of neglect by this government.”

They are calling on Shandro to make immediate changes to the way LAA is funded.

Shandro previously told CityNews those changes are coming next year.

“Increases to the legal aid tariff, which is the rate that criminal defence lawyers are paid for legal aid work, will be considered as part of the 2023 Budget,” Shandro said. “Legal Aid Alberta (LAA) and officials in Justice have begun this work, and if there is evidence to support increasing the rate paid to criminal defence lawyers, it will be included in the 2023 Budget submission.

“John Panusa, CEO of LAA has publicly stated that they have all required funding necessary to ensure uninterrupted access to justice.”

Kelsey Sitar, a practicing lawyer and a vice president of the Criminal Defence Lawyer’s Association in Calgary, told CityNews at a demonstration earlier this month that the government of Alberta has not properly funded the legal aid system for decades.

“That’s the system that helps low-income individuals who need assistance from a lawyer, whether that’s with a family matter, or a criminal matter — immigration,” Sitar explained. “In 2018, a new Governance Agreement was negotiated, and the government — which was the NDP at that time — recognized that there had been chronic underfunding and the system was in serious jeopardy.”

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A statement from LAA says it relies “almost entirely” on funding from the province and the Alberta Law Foundation (ALF).

“Prior to the Governance Agreement, LAA’s budget could vary dramatically depending on the grant from ALF, which depends on the interest rates paid to lawyer trust accounts and the funding grant from GOA, which might not be responsive to changes in demand,” the statement from LAA reads.

“Since 2019, this has ceased to be an issue for LAA. Simply put, we have received the funding required to provide the services under the Governance Agreement. Where in 2020, ALF provided us with a special one-time grant, the GOA accordingly reduced its contribution. During the pandemic, when demand plummeted, the Governance Agreement acted to reduce the funding level required to satisfy the needs of the Governance Agreement. In the same way, if demand were to unexpectedly increase, the Governance Agreement would ensure that the services that are agreed to be provided under the agreement would still be funded.”

However, LAA is in support of increasing wages for criminal defence lawyers, and asked Shandro for a budget increase. Criminal defence lawyers have not received a pay bump because there has not been an increase to the LAA Tariff since 2015. LAA says increases to the tariff should reflect inflation rates over the last seven years, and “at minimum, be guided by the tariff rate for lawyers in Ontario and British Columbia.”

Alberta’s defence lawyers add they are willing to meet with the government to talk things out and end job action.

“When Minister Shandro is interested in speaking to us in good faith to allow the justice system to get back to serving taxpayers effectively and efficiently, we are available. Until then, Legal Aid Alberta has lost overnight a large, diverse and irreplaceable workforce. We will no longer silently support this government’s dysfunctional idea of justice.”