Prince George, B.C.- The Legal Services Society, which oversees legal aid throughout the province, will be changing its operations in five communities next year. Effective April 1, 2010, the Society will replace its regional centres in Prince George,  Kamloops,  Kelowna, Surrey and Victoria with local agents and an expanded, province-wide call centre.

 

The changes will cost 58 people their jobs.

 

"These changes will reduce our operating costs so that we can put more money into services such as free legal information, advice in courthouses for people who don't have lawyers, and legal representation in more serious matters," said Mark Benton, QC, the Society's executive director.

 

Local agents are private lawyers in the community who contract with the Legal Services Society to administer legal aid in the area. They offer many of the services currently available through the regional centres including legal aid applications, duty counsel, representation of clients and community liaison. Twenty-two communities around the province are already served by local agents. The Legal Services Society will also be expanding its province-wide call centre in Vancouver for those wanting to apply for legal aid by phone. The Terrace Regional Centre will remain open as part of a program to improve services to Aboriginal British Columbians who have historically experienced additional barriers to accessing the justice system.

 

The Society's long-term plan includes a continued emphasis on core legal aid services in family law, immigration law, child protection and criminal law. Civil law advice programs such as LawLINE (the Society's telephone legal advice service) will be discontinued on March 26, 2010.

 

"I, along with the board of directors, recognize that these changes will have a significant impact on our staff who have provided excellent service to low-income people in their regions, but we see this as needed to sustain and improve the broad range of information, advice and representation services we offer to individual British Columbians," Benton explained.