There’s a sigh of relief from Thunder Bay’s Kinna-Aweya Legal Clinic following word the provincial government is backing down on massive cuts to Legal Aid Ontario.
Spokesperson Sally Colquhoun tells us there was a real concern after the province already cut $133 million from this year’s Legal Aid budget. “The government has decided to not make further reductions to Legal Aid Ontario’s budget so that’s a huge relief to us.”
However, the cuts from this year’s budget will remain in place. The Kinna-Aweya Legal Clinic official notes they will keep working on getting the province to restore some of their funding to ensure everyone in the north gets legal help.
New legislation from the provincial government on Monday will amend the Legal Services Act. Colquhoun says they were pleased to hear the legislation still references clinics as independent organizations. “It protects the fact that we are independent community organizations with governance in our communities, so we have local boards of governors that set our priorities and goals.”
