ALEX McCUAIG
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In the past few months judges and defence lawyers have expressed concerns in open court about Legal Aid Alberta appointments. But Legal Aid says the system is just going through growing pains.
Legal Aid is mandated to provide legal services to low-income Albertans who otherwise couldn't afford defence counsel when facing serious criminal and civil matters.
A 2009 report undertaken by then justice minister Alison Redford concluded the traditional method of providing the service "may no longer be sustainable."
In response to that report, a series of changes was imposed beginning in late 2009 and early 2010 across the province.
Jacqueline Schaffter, CEO of Legal Aid, said changes included turning regional offices into legal service centres.
"What that means is that clients receive more than just an approval or denial of certificate services," she said.
"They can go in and receive information referrals, legal advice, talk to a lawyer — so it's not just limited to whether they get a certificate or not."
It also means local defence lawyers who were once appointed by the regional office are now chosen on a rotating basis out of the Edmonton office.
This was done, according to Schaffter, to accommodate more "one-on-one" services to those requiring Legal Aid at the local level.
"By centralizing it, things are more standardized," said Schaffter, adding the 2009 provincial review of Legal Aid pointed out how different offices had a tendency to provide different services.
Delays faced by clients and which both judges and lawyers had commented on regarding the negative impact on rights of incarcerated accused to timely representation were due to some issues with a new computer system, said Schaffter.
"Since October those glitches have not occurred. Before that there were some probably who got lost in the system because of a certain computer issue that we have since fixed," she said.
According to the 2009 Legal Aid review, the public service saw a 43-per-cent increase in case loads between 2004 and 2009 with nearly 200,000 people accessing the system.