Perspective from a DLS student caseworker
Access to justice is a major problem that affects the Canadian legal system. Notably, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) Beverly McLachlin once stated, “we do not have adequate access to justice in Canada.” Former justice of the SCC Thomas Cromwell has also stated, “by nearly any standard, our current situation falls far short of providing access to the knowledge, resources and services that allow people effectively with civil and family legal matters.” Within a three-year timeframe, it is estimated that roughly 45 percent of Canadians will experience a justiciable event. Around 50 percent of people will try to solve their own legal problems or represent themselves. Additionally, 42 to 90 percent of people blame costs as the main reason for not seeking legal support.
Coming into law school with a background in criminology and Canadian criminal justice, I am no stranger to this issue. I entered law school with the goal of developing a solution to this problem or helping alleviate it, at least. The main opportunity I had to work towards these goals is working with Downtown Legal Services (DLS) as both a summer student caseworker and as a part-time, for credit, caseworker during the academic year.
DLS & Access to Justice
DLS is a community legal clinic that operates as a clinical education program. Law students are given the responsibility to engage in legal work under the supervision of staff lawyers.
DLS provides legal services within six areas of law: housing, employment, family, criminal, refugee and immigration law, and university affairs (within U of T). Law students convey their staff lawyer’s advice about the law and the client’s potential options, undertake negotiations with adverse parties, and represent their client in court and at tribunal appearances.
DLS provides services free of charge. Most of the clinic’s clients are low-income individuals, as DLS uses Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO) financial eligibility criteria. Individuals who receive social assistance are automatically eligible. Similarly, levy-paying University of Toronto students also qualify for legal services.
Outside of assisting individual clients, DLS also engages in public legal education. DLS’ public legal education entails plain language workshops on legal topics which are presented to community agency staff and clientele.
My Experience with DLS
My work as a caseworker has solely been within the Criminal Law and University Offences division. On the criminal law side, I mostly assist clients who have been charged with summary conviction offences (less ‘serious’ offences, such as a basic assault or theft). On the University Offences side, I assist clients who have been charged with any academic offence, including plagiarism, unauthorized aid, and forgery.
Working at DLS has made me realize that access to justice issues, at least within the Greater Toronto Area, are much worse than I initially thought. Experiencing a legal issue can be one of the most stressful events to occur in one’s life. It is truly unfortunate that when these individuals turn to the justice system to seek help and advice, they are often left with nothing. This lack of access to justice is even more concerning because it mostly affects those who are most in need of legal services. It is the people who face access to justice problems (like DLS’ clients)—the marginalized, the systemically oppressed, those who have immigrated from other countries with no money or family, those with mental health issues, those with disabilities, those who cannot read, write, or speak English—who are in most need of a justice system that is open and willing to help.
Practically every client who I worked with at DLS experienced some set of access to justice issues:
- Most, if not all, of the criminal law clients who I have worked with are on some form of social assistance. Few have secure employment and, even if they are employed, they often make little to no money, falling far below the Canadian poverty line. Therefore, retaining private legal counsel is far outside their financial reach.
- Most, if not all, of my criminal law clients do not qualify for LAO certificates for counsel. This is largely due to the nature of the offences at issue—DLS only takes clients with less serious offences where the Crown is not seeking a jail sentence and, thereby, prevents our clients from obtaining a certificate despite almost always meeting financial eligibility requirements. This means that hundreds, if not thousands of people who do not qualify for legal aid (and who cannot be assisted by DLS due to issues with jurisdiction or limited caseworker availability) are left without any kind of legal representation.
- Unique to the Criminal Law division, we place our prospective clients on a waitlist so that we can help as many clients as possible. Yet, due to the massive amounts of persons charged with a criminal offence who do not qualify for legal aid, our waitlist sometimes reaches up to 50 people. Clients often represent themselves on their criminal charges for several months until a caseworker becomes available to take their case. By the time these clients reach the top of our waitlist, they have often run out of time and their matter has been resolved without any legal representation.
- The University Offences clients are also in similar situations. Academic offences can greatly affect students’ academic and professional careers. Sanctions for these students often range from one to three years suspension, or even expulsion. Throughout the entire administrative process—whether it be the professor’s meeting, the Dean’s meeting, and possibly the tribunal hearing—students often lack representation. Should the matter proceed to the tribunal level, the University retains a well-known and prestigious litigation firm in Toronto. Retaining counsel is often too expensive for the average student and so, DLS is often the only realistic option.
The importance of access to justice in these two areas of practice are evident. Individuals charged with an academic offence face barriers to their education, possibly leading to severe long-term impacts. Criminal law clients often face the consequences of a criminal record, which is even more severe.
Not only has working at DLS enabled me to experience first-hand the access to justice needs within the GTA and the U of T community, it has also taught me a great deal about systemic societal barriers that likely contribute to a lack of access to justice. In addition to casework, credit caseworkers are required to attend weekly DLS seminars. DLS uses these opportunities to invite guest speakers to provide insight on various legal issues. Some of the more notable guest speaker sessions centered around serving Indigenous communities, learning about the systemic barriers that they face on a day-to-day basis, and how to best recognize these barriers when providing service to our Indigenous clients. As a future lawyer, this knowledge will certainly serve me well both in my practice, and as I navigate the justice system to find solutions to better Canada’s access to justice issues.
This series by the Criminal Law Students’ Association introduces the law student body to the wild, wild world of criminal law and criminal justice. Articles will be published in print in Ultra Vires as well as on the CLSA’s website. To pitch an article to CCC, please contact the Blog Editors, Nicholas Buhite or Anna Zhang at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.
Editor’s Note: The author requested to remain anonymous in order to not prejudice employment prospects.
