Manitoba’s criminal defence lawyers have announced they’ll be taking immediate job action on legal aid cases.
The president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba, Gerri Wiebe, told 680 CJOB the fight with the province is over the rate that lawyers — both legal aid staff and private lawyers — are paid in those scenarios.
Wiebe said Manitoba has “choice of counsel,” which means qualifying clients, based on income, can fill out an application and request a specific lawyer. As long as that counsel is willing to represent them on a legal aid basis, they’re usually given the lawyer.
“Part of it is that people are requesting the private bar lawyers, and the other part of it is that private bar lawyers actually deliver services quite a bit more efficiently than legal aid staff lawyers,” said Wiebe.
“At the end of the day, our justice system maintains its integrity because we have two sides of an equation, both doing their very best to represent the interests that they service.
“If you fund one side and you don’t fund the other, the integrity of that system is seriously diminished.”
At issue are the tariffs paid to private defence lawyers who take on legal aid cases — a rate of pay that hasn’t increased in 12 years.
- Man charged in surfer deaths told girlfriend he killed ‘3 gringos,’ court hears
- Toronto Pearson gold heist: Ontario man arrested at airport after arriving from India
- ‘I believe they’re looking for me’: Man arrested after triple stabbing in Mississauga, Ont.
- Drone used to smuggle $250,000 worth of contraband into N.B. prison, police say
Lawyers threatened a walkout in January due to the conflict unless they could meet with Manitoba Justice. That meeting happened, but Wiebe said the discussion went nowhere.
As of Monday morning, private bar criminal defence lawyers across Manitoba will not perform any bail court services on behalf of legal aid clients.
Wiebe acknowledged it may be hard to garner public support for suspects and defence lawyers but said it’s important to the legal process.
“You may not like the individual case, you may not like the individual cause, but at the end of the day, if you want a system… that is fair and representative of its people, you need to fund both sides of the scales of justice,” Wiebe said.
The number of clients currently up for bail on any given day can fluctuate, she said, so it’s unclear how many people will be potentially affected by this job action.
A spokesperson for Justice Minister Cliff Cullen’s office said the minister is hoping to work with the Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba to ‘establish a new way of doing business’.
“Legal Aid Manitoba has indicated that contingency plans are in place if necessary to handle bail hearings.
“We will continue to work with the Legal Aid Management Council to ensure those that need legal representation receive assistance, and we recognize the important role that private lawyers have to play in delivering those services.”
Comments