B.C. closing legal aid offices

People who work in legal aid offices in B.C. say the government's cutbacks will make it harder for poor people to get legal advice.

British Columbia's Liberal government says it can no longer afford its legal aid system, and will shut 60 clinics by September. The province is slashing legal aid spending by 40 per cent.

• BACKGROUNDER: Legal aid

The cuts come at the same time the Canadian Bar Association is warning of a legal aid crisis in the country.

• FROM AUG 11, 2002: Lawyers plan court battle over legal aid access

The city of Duncan will lose its legal aid office on Friday.

Jennifer Bilsbarrow, a paralegal, says the closure will hurt the community, as well as put her out of a job.

Bilsbarrow recalls a frantic visit from a single mother. Her landlord had ordered her out of her apartment by the end of the day.

"You know, we would just make a call to the landlord and say 'No! That's not happening. If you want to evict the person, you have the right to evict them and there's a process to follow,'" said Bilsbarrow. She says if the law office hadn't been open, the woman would have ended up on the street.

Legal aid will pay only for certain criminal cases, child apprehensions and domestic abuse situations. Legal advocacy known as poverty law is no longer covered in the province.

People living in B.C. now have the choice of contacting a call centre or going to a Web site. But they won't get a lawyer, just information.

A counsellor at a native friendship centre in Duncan says that will only put poor people further out of reach.

"They don't have a computer. They don't even know how to turn it on. And when I'm talking computer talk to them, they say 'What are you saying?' They don't know what the Internet is," said Lucy Thomas.