A non-profit that helps fund Legal Aid Alberta is raising concern over potential funding changes by the provincial government that it says would limit access to justice for vulnerable and low-income Albertans.
Defendant box in a courtroom at the Edmonton Law Courts building, in Edmonton, Friday, June 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
The foundation generates revenue from interest earned on a lawyers' pooled trust accounts. It then distributes that revenue to non-profits, including Legal Aid Alberta and smaller clinics like the Indigenous Justice Centre and Community Legal Clinic. Kathy Parsons, executive director of Community Legal Clinic — Central Alberta, said her group is fully funded by the foundation and received $1 million from it last year. Under the proposed changes, she expects funding to be cut by a third.
The province added it believes the foundation would likely still be able to fund other initiatives in the future. “We remain focused on carrying out our mission of resolving legal problems for Albertans and protecting the rule of law for the benefit of everyone,” it wrote.
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