Ford cut legal aid funding in Ontario by 30%, which to me is unconsciounable. Part of the purported fairness of our system is the right to counsel and to make the case for your defense. Against the dizzying array of investigative techniques and procedures we can bring to bear, it’s a system that needs expert help to navigate.
Those charged with offences are, very disproportionately, those who are already poor, already in positions of vulnerability, and already have prior contacts with the justice system, which does stack the odds against them.
I’ve never charged someone I wasn’t very convinced ‘did the thing’. I’ve worked very hard on some files to take something sketchy and ambiguous, and to work to that degree of confidence. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never had charges fall through because I was factually wrong about whether the person ‘did the thing’. But I have made errors of law, or other parts of ‘the system’ have erred or failed on my files in ways that prejudice the rights of the accused. Without attentive counsel, these things can be missed, and sometimes it really matters.
I don’t have answers for how to make the system work better or be more fair… But strangling access to defence counsel for the poor ain’t it.
