[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: FW: Budget Cut to Legal Aid Ontario - Next Step

Thu May 30 17:07:36 EDT 2019

sharing...
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Siffan Rahman <srahman at swchc.on.ca>
Date: Thu, May 30, 2019 at 2:31 PM
Subject: FW: Budget Cut to Legal Aid Ontario - Next Step
To: All Staff <allstaff at swchc.on.ca>

*Rally against provincial budget cuts- June 7th*

We invite you to join us at  a rally against provincial budget cuts next
week on Friday, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. Click here
<https://www.oflevents.ca/ottawa_june_7_day_of_action_to_resist_ford_cuts> for
more information. We are meeting up at 4:45 p.m. across the street from the
Ottawa Courthouse, corner of Elgin and Laurier:

*From:* Gary Stein (CLSO) [mailto:steing at lao.on.ca]
*Sent:* May 29, 2019 5:30 PM
*Subject:* Budget Cut to Legal Aid Ontario - Next Step

Hello again, community partners.  Since my last email, we have stayed
focused on the risks to client services in Ottawa if the legal aid budget
cut results in a significant reduction in our clinic’s budget.

*Some Ottawa numbers: *

   - *Housing*: More housing evictions if we have to reduce our Tenant Duty
   Counsel service at Ottawa’s Landlord and Tenant Board – We assisted
over *1,400
   people *in 2018*. *

   - *Basic income support:* Less money for people’s basic needs if they
   cannot access provincial and federal income support benefits to which they
   are legally entitled – we assisted *over 950 people *in 2018.

   - *Immigration and refugee support:* Much reduced access to immigration
   law assistance is *now in effect* due to immigration legal aid budget
   cuts, and it would be much worse if our budget is reduced. In 2018, we
   assisted *over 975 people *with complex immigration and refugee problems
   *.*

   - *Disability legal assistance*: People injured in the workplace will
   have less assistance to resolve workers’ compensation problems; and people
   with disabilities will have less access to the Ontario Disability Support
   benefits to which they are entitled by law. We assisted* 590 Ottawa
   community members* with these legal problems in 2018.

   - *Legal problems, if not addressed quickly, lead to health problems,
   homelessness and unemployment*. The Canadian Bar Association
   <http://www.cba.org/CBAMediaLibrary/cba_na/images/Equal%20Justice%20-%20Microsite/PDFs/EqualJusticeFinalReport-eng.pdf#p55>
found
   that for every dollar spent on legal aid, governments save an average of $6
   elsewhere.

   - These statistics don’t include the children of people facing these
   serious legal problems.

   - These statistics don’t include the local legal assistance by our legal
   aid partners including family law, child protection and criminal defence
   assistance for people with low incomes.

*Please join us on June 7th: *

We invite you to join us at  a rally against provincial budget cuts next
week on Friday, June 7 at 5:00 p.m. Click here
<https://www.oflevents.ca/ottawa_june_7_day_of_action_to_resist_ford_cuts> for
more information. We are meeting up at 4:45 p.m. across the street from the
Ottawa Courthouse, corner of Elgin and Laurier:

Thank you very much for helping us respond to the legal aid budget cuts.
There is more to do but we have done a lot to promote the work of the our
legal clinic system and for the tens of thousands of people across the
province that depend on our services.

This link is still open: https://stoplegalaidcuts.nationbuilder.com.

Much appreciated,

Gary Stein

Executive Director

Community Legal Services of Ottawa / Services juridiques communautaires
d’Ottawa

613-733-0140 x. 6022

-- 
*Stan Kupferschmidt*
*Team Lead*
Needle Exchange Safer Inhalation Program
*Somerset West Community Health Centre*
55 Eccles Stt, Ottawa, ON
outreach cell: 613.295.4329
office phone: 613.238.8210 ext 2392
fax: 613.688.2766
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