Timeline

October 2010

  • West Coast LEAF made written submissions to the Standing Committee on Finance and Governmental Services as part of the Committee’s 2011 Budget Consultations. These submissions detailed the state of legal aid in BC, including the massive cuts implemented between 2002 and 2010, and the social and financial costs of under-funding legal aid. We  called upon the Committee to recommend that government adequately fund legal aid. Read our submission.

February 2011

  • West Coast LEAF wrote to the Standing Committee on Finance and Governmental Services expressing concern that West Coast LEAF’s submissions were not reflected in the Committee’s Report on the 2011 Budget Consultations. Read the letter.

October 2011

  • West Coast LEAF reiterated its calls for adequate budgetary funding for legal aid. Read the submissions.
  • We were pleased to see that this year our submissions were recognized and cited in the Finance Committee’s Consultation Report, which devoted several paragraphs to the need for legal aid (see page 30 of report).

October 2012

  • West Coast LEAF once again reiterated our calls for adequate legal aid funding. Read our submission.
  • Over the course of this year, the BC government added $2.1 million to the legal aid budget for family and child protection matters, the first funding increase for family programs since 2005. The increase will only allow the maintenance of current levels of service, which West Coast LEAF has repeatedly noted are failing to meet the needs of low-income British Columbians.

October 2013

  • Our submission to the Committee called on the BC Government to make investing in women’s equality a budget priority. Read our submission.
  • We set out our priorities based on the findings of our 2013 CEDAW Report Card, including investing in legal aid, implementing the recommendations of the Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry, and addressing shocking detention conditions in women’s remand centres. We believe that investing in women is a matter of fairness, equality, and human rights, and is essential to keeping our democracy strong and upholding our commitment to the rule of law.