Alta. defence lawyers to refuse serious cases including homicides, with plan to demonstrate at courthouses

Defence lawyers in Alberta are taking what they call "drastic action" to demand the provincial government and those at the helm of Legal Aid Alberta to fix the system.

Starting Thursday, Sept. 1, lawyers will refuse new certificates for the most serious criminal charges, including sexual offences, firearms-related crimes and homicides.

“Across the province, defence lawyers have decided enough is enough. We made clear that we would no longer work most of the time for free to prop up a system that forces the most vulnerable of Albertans to accept a bargain basement defence,” read a statement from four organizations representing defence lawyers across the province.

Lawyers say the government is underfunding the legal aid system, leaving Albertans without proper access to justice and the lawyers representing them without fair compensation. 

Immediately, without defence lawyers taking on new cases, Albertans will have to wait for representation through Legal Aid Alberta (LAA), find representation outside of the system, or apply to the court to direct funding to their lawyer, the president of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association in Edmonton said. 

If the job action goes on for a prolonged period of time, it will likely result in delays similar to those seen during the pandemic, Danielle Boisvert told CTV News Edmonton.

"Where the matters simply keep churning into the system, new charges keep being laid by the police, but no matters are coming out of the system," she explained. 

Her association is one of the four that cosigned the Wednesday letter. 

"I've been practicing for about 15 years now and this is the most solidarity and unity I've seen amongst the defence lawyers of Alberta," she commented. 

"We're not a union. Our members are not required to follow what we're recommending and asking them to do, but the fact that we have so many people supporting us and taking part in these actions show us that this is an issue we all have been fighting for many years for and this is a crossroads."

REVIEW FIRST: MINISTER 

On Wednesday, the provincial government revealed a $13.2-billion surplus and plans to put the windfall toward debt and savings. 

According to Boisvert, what Legal Aid Alberta needs "is a very, very, very small portion of that." 

Justice Minister Tyler Shandro told The Canadian Press a review of Legal Aid Alberta's administrative system in October should be finished before any commitment is made. 

Shandro also said he was advised that making moves before the review is finished would undermine the findings. 

Submissions for the 2023 budget usually begin in October and November, according to the minister. 

But, given the surplus, Boisvert said, "this would not be a difficult step for the government to make that commitment now, rather than continue to say, 'wait and see, maybe.'"

Additionally, defence lawyers are planning to walk out of docket court between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Friday at the Calgary Courts Centre and Edmonton Law Courts. 

Their intent is "to show the minister and other people who don't support the proper funding of Legal Aid what it looks like to have a court room without any defence lawyers in it and what it may look like if it were to happen on a much larger scale," Boisvert said. 

"That's, obviously, a step we don't want to have to get to – and right now this new phase doesn't affect currently scheduled trials, so we are taking a phased approach to minimalize any negative impact on the public and on our clients – but [this] also makes the point that we need to make: that our role is critical for a fair, proper, functioning justice system."

When CTV News Edmonton requested comment from Shando, his office referred to an op-ed by LAA's CEO which Postmedia published Thursday. In the op-ed, John Panusa attempted to reassure clients and the public that LAA was "OK." He said staff lawyers, employees and roster lawyers uninvolved in the job action have stepped up to tackle the 61,000 files LAA processes in a year, and expressed concern marginalized Albertans were getting "caught in the crossfire."

Some defence lawyers started withdrawing services Aug. 8.

With files from The Canadian Press and CTV News Edmonton's Kyra Markov