By: Shaun Fluker
Agreement comment on: Governance Agreement Respecting Legal Aid (September 6, 2024)
PDF Version: Alberta Threatens the Independence of its Legal Aid Program
In early September, the Alberta government announced it had signed a new five year (2024 – 2029) legal aid governance agreement with Legal Aid Alberta and the Law Society of Alberta. The government news release emphasized collaboration and a ‘shared understanding’ amongst the signatories on the importance of legal aid for access to justice. I read this narrative with suspicion because collaboration and ‘shared understanding’ are not words that I associate with the funding of public services by the UCP government. Moreover, only a couple of months have passed since the media reported that the Minister of Justice had unilaterally terminated negotiations on a new agreement in May; apparently seeking to impose a new funding structure for legal aid which critics allege would provide the Minister with significantly more control over the funding and operations of the legal aid program. This turn by the Minister from an authoritarian to a collaborative stance in just two months seems very unlikely to me, and my curiosity led to a closer look at the details in this new agreement. These details reveal that the Minister has not backed off plans to restructure legal aid, and the independence of legal aid in Alberta is under attack.