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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2000

OTTAWA - The President of the Canadian Bar Association lauds the announcement by federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan that she will urge the federal government to provide bridge funding to take the pressure off the legal aid system.

"We welcome the Minister's commitment to pursue increased legal aid funding and hope her Cabinet colleagues will agree. While the bridge funding is an important first step, the next step is for the federal, provincial and territorial governments to approve permanent funding increases and ensure that the money is delivered to Canadians in need," says CBA President Daphne Dumont, Q.C. of Charlottetown.

"Our goal is to see all levels of government work together to find lasting solutions to the legal crisis in Canada," says Daphne Dumont. "We are very pleased to see that real progress is being made."

The announcement comes just three weeks after the CBA voiced strong concerns about the woefully inadequate state of legal aid funding. On Aug. 21 at the launch of the CBA's Legal Aid Watch (LAW) during the CBA annual conference in Halifax, Daphne Dumont said, "We decided to ratchet up the pressure on governments to provide proper funding for legal aid."

The Watch involves a grassroots network of lawyers across the country who have volunteered to monitor the delivery of legal aid to see how underfunding hurts real people. Participating lawyers will bring these examples to the CBA which, in turn, will pass them along to the media, MPs and governments. The first example is expected to be released later this month.

When President Daphne Dumont meets with federal and provincial Attorneys General during the coming year, legal aid will remain a priority agenda item. The CBA's position on legal aid is as follows:

• Governments must be accountable for what they spend on legal aid. The federal government must increase and identify its funding of legal aid, and require its contribution be used solely for legal aid. The provinces must also identify what they spend on legal aid and increase their contributions, and devote all federal legal aid money to its intended purpose.
  
• Federal legislation is needed to create minimum national standards and uniform eligibility levels for legal aid services across the country.
  
• Governments must affirm the crucial role of public funding for legal services to ensure access to justice for Canadians with limited resources.
  

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members