Over the past months, members of the OBA, specifically Kenning Marchant, Tom Dart, Norman Williams, John McMunagle, Randy Hahn and Ed Montigny, have been working as part of the Alliance for Sustainable Legal Aid (ASLA) and on the Advisory Review Panels to bring forward a series of recommendations on how the new funding ($150 million over the next four years) announced by the Attorney General in September, 2009, should be allocated.
From his initial announcement, Minister Bentley has been very specific in both private meetings and public statements, that this funding was to benefit the service providers, that no one area of practice would be funded to the exclusion of others and that he wanted the advice of the Ontario Bar on how the new funding allocation should be utilized.
The announcement today is the result of a lengthy dialogue with the profession through Ontario's legal organizations that comprise ASLA, and will, we believe, ensure access to justice for vulnerable Ontarians. The OBA has put forward reasoned, well articulated recommendations through our participation in the Advisory Review Panels, as well as through recent submissions to the Code and Lesage consultations and the Trebilcock Legal Aid Review.
I would like to thank our representatives and our advocacy volunteers for their efforts on behalf of their colleagues across the Province.
Please be assured that the OBA will continue its advocacy efforts on behalf of its members and will work constructively with the government and other legal organizations in the pursuit of access to justice, legislative and law reform.
Yours sincerely,
Carole J. Brown
President
James Morton
1100-5255 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
M2N 6P4
416 225 2777
www.jmortonmusings.blogspot.com
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