The Attorney-General, the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers and the Legal Services Society announced this morning an agreement to avert the withdrawal of legal aid services scheduled to begin Monday April 1. You can read the announcement here.
The parties to the agreement intend that legal aid services will continue uninterrupted. This includes regular levels of service in Immigration and Refugee cases including immigration duty counsel.
Regular legal aid intake services will remain available. Because of recent media reports some people may not be aware that services remain available.
The Law Foundation of BC is a non-profit foundation with a mandate to fund legal aid and other law-related initiatives. The foundation will receive the grant and work with government, LSS and ALL to allocate the funding.
Immigration clients needing legal aid assistance can contact the Vancouver Regional Centre at #400 – 510 Burrard Street, Vancouver or the Legal Aid Call Centre at 604-408-2172 (Lower Mainland) or 1-877-577-2525 (toll-free).