Table 18-4
Refused legal aid applications by reason for refusal, criminal and civil matters — Lack of merit

Effective April 20, 2009, intake services for family legal aid were expanded when eligibility screening for services formerly captured under the Domestic Legal Aid program was transferred to New Brunswick Legal Aid Services Commission from the Department of Justice and Consumer Affairs.

Ontario has 77 legal aid clinics that are independent, non-profit organizations funded by the legal aid plan. Staff lawyers and community legal workers at these clinics provide legal aid services primarily in “other” civil matters, particularly in the area of poverty law which includes, social assistance/income maintenance, landlord and tenant, workers’ compensation, criminal injuries compensation, and refugee and immigration matters. In 2011/2012, these clinics accounted for 74% of applications refused for financial ineligibility. The number of refused legal aid applications has declined since 2009/2010 due to the restructuring of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). The introduction of a LAO’s multi-tiered call centre has resulted in fewer clients making a written application and correspondingly fewer receiving a formal refusal for certificate services. LAO call centre agents assess client eligibility and are able to route clients deemed ineligible for certificate services, to alternative LAO services. Since February 2011, eligibility for certificate services uses a formula based on income and family size and may be applied by LAO call centre agents without the client making a formal application. This has lead to further attrition of clients before the issue of a formal refusal of certificate services.

In 2009/2010, Manitoba began to include the number of applications that were used to generate secondary or tertiary certificates in the total number of legal aid applications reported. This led to an increase in the count for total and approved legal aid applications.

Figures for Saskatchewan were re-stated for the reference periods 2008/2009 to 2010/2011, inclusive, based on the number of letters of denial issued to clients by the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission.

In 2009/2010, the capacity for statistical reporting in Nunavut was limited due to issues with information tracking systems. As a result, the number of refused applications may be underreported and is not comparable to previous years.