Cuts likely coming to legal aid in London, already considered 'under-serviced'

Lawyers and paralegals who help some of the city's most vulnerable clients with legal representation are worried for their jobs, and what cuts to legal aid will mean for those who need their servicesthe most.

The provincial budget delivered a 30 per cent financial blow to Legal Aid Ontario, which doles out money to the province's community clinics, including London's Neighbourhood Legal Services and Community Legal Services.

"Everyone is quite worried. How extensive are the cuts going to be, what if jobs are lost here? People are on pins and needles waiting for more information," said Mike Laliberte, the director of Neighbourhood Legal Services, which helps clients with everything from landlord-tenant disputes to appeals when people are denied disability benefits.

"It means that people who are the most vulnerable are going to be the most hurt. Our clients, when they walk through the door, they're either unemployed and on disability or they're the working poor."

Laliberte said he doesn't know how the 30 per cent cut will affect his clinic.

"Here in London, there are two, sometimes three days of hearings a week at the Landlord Tenant Board, with 100 applications a week for evictions. If we're not there, people who lose the ability to findout what those rights are, how to delay the eviction to give them a bit more time.

"A lot of the people we're trying to help do have some mental health issues. We represent people who can't represent themselves."

Jesse Robichaud, aspokesperson for Attorney General CarolineMulroney,pointed to a review of legal aid by the province's auditor general that found room for improvement at the agency.

He told CBC News that,if Legal Aid Ontario embraces those improvements, the government is convinced it will be able to serve more clients even with the reduced funding.

London is 'under-serviced'

London was identified as an 'under-serviced' city for legal aid services. In 2017-2018, the local clinic got money to hire an additional two staffers to deal with that pressure. One deals with employment law, the other with landlord-tenant disputes.

"This is a huge cut to Legal Aid Ontario, and we have to figure out how those cuts are gong to be spread out, and who is going to be hurt," Laliberte said.

"We're not sure what will be cut, but it's not very nice or very good."

The hope is that front-line services won't be cut, he added, but the clinic doesn't have much to space. It's $1.5 million budget is used mainly to pay the salaries of 13 people.

"(Ontario Premier Doug Ford) noted that as he tries to deal with the deficit, there will be no loss to front-line staff, and we really hope that is true," Laliberte said.

London's two clinics don't deal with many immigration and refugee matters, he added.