Justice Education Society of British Columbia

Layoffs loom for Justice Education Society after surprise cuts of more than $300,000

By Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun
August 27, 2009
 
With faith in the legal system at all-time lows in the polls, the B.C. government has slashed funding for the pioneering Justice Education Society.

The organization will eliminate services and 11 staff will be laid off or have their hours reduced as a result of more than $300,000 in surprise cuts.

Until recently called the Law Courts Education Society of B.C., the group played a pivotal role providing information to help people navigate the legal system and educating young people about the law and its processes.

Two months ago, Wally Oppal, former attorney-general and a past president of the society, unveiled with fanfare its new name, logo and tagline: "Justice Through Knowledge."

He also launched its new website www.justiceeducation.ca.

In June, along with The Vancouver Sun and Shaw TV, the society organized a highly successful public forum, Gang Wars: Justice in Our Times, which examined the legal system's response to the current gang violence.

Now it is gutted.

Hardest hit will be students and teachers across the province. Programs for more than 15,000 ordinary students, 600 youth-at-risk and 1,000 aboriginal students in remote communities are terminated.

Originally established in 1989, the society was a trailblazer in public legal education in Canada; more than one million people across the province have benefited from its programs.

The non-profit society's funding from the Ministry of Education was eliminated last week -- a loss of $200,000. In addition, funding from the Ministry of the Attorney-General had previously been cut by $110,000.

In sum, provincial support was reduced from $500,000 last year to $190,000 this year.

"Five months into our fiscal year, we suddenly have less than 40 per cent of the funds we were told in April that we would be receiving," executive director Rick Craig complained Wednesday. "This has forced us to make deep cuts to staff and programs."

The society will close four of its eight offices -- in Victoria, Kamloops, Prince George and Tri-Cities -- and reduce work hours at its Kelowna, Surrey and two Vancouver locations.

There also will be layoffs at its head office.

"This retroactive loss of funding instantly puts the society into a deficit of over $100,000, due to costs incurred since April," said Provincial Court Judge Pedro de Couto, president of the board of directors. "However, our commitment to improve access to justice for British Columbians will not waver during these challenging times."

On his way to Latin America, where the society was invited to help establish legal education programs, Craig said the worst part was dealing with the deficit incurred because of earlier government funding assurances.

"We've got a $110,000 deficit that could have been $150,000 if I hadn't taken some steps in anticipation of this happening," Craig explained.

"We're going to have to shut down our provincial aboriginal program and a lot of special needs stuff. The support for self-represented litigants, all the self-help stuff will suffer -- the stuff that makes the system work better when there are cuts is now being cut."

That's what's wrong with this paltry saving -- it's penny wise and pound foolish.

As a result of these cuts, taxpayers will lose much more in wasted legal resources, and the lack of education and understanding will only fuel the already rampant frustration many people feel when they deal with the system.

imulgrew@vancouversun.com
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