Needed 9-, on" Legal Aid" For lsland ciriz

prepared by the P.E.I.

Civil Liberties Association '

There is no civil legal aid for low income citizens of P.E.I.. This means that low income citizens-who som— etimes desperately need a lawyer in family matters, landlordatenant problems, labour and consumer problems, welfare and unemployment in- surance problems, etc. are being denied their basic ri- ghts. ',

The Canadian Bill of Rig- hts statesthat it is the "right of the individual-to equality before the law and the.protection of the law". That is why most provinces in Canada have established legal aid plans for low in- come citizens in criminal' and civil cases.» i

However in P.E.I. there is only legal aid for crimi— nal matters. We have two Public Defenders who handle criminal cases for*people charged with a criminal of- - fence and who cannot afford to pay a lawyer. These two~ government paid lawyers also handle juvenile delinquency cases.‘ .

The P.E.I. Civil Liber— ties Association, a volun— tary association that is op- en to all people living.on the'Island;“considefs‘the" ’ lack of civil legal aid on P.E.I. unjust and has repea- tedly urged the Provincial Government to establish ci— vil legal aid here.

The Association, along with many other organizati— ons,presented a brief to the Family Court Committee.’ Mo— st of these organizations and even the Family Court

Student Aid con't from page 1

economic and other forces can be manipulated to shape the entrance profile of our universitys, then' our society is in for trou— ble. ‘

Reactions from the var; ious student councils has been reserved.-However NUS is confident that sup— Port will rise with the circulation of a petition supporting their position. _ l amﬁaskingfall“students to carefully consider NUS's . Pr929§§ge gage-o voice their Support . “ r3; j‘f '-

Term Pa rs! Canada's largest SBYVJCO- For catao no send $5 toe—Essay sor- Ilcos, 57 mdlna Avenue. Suite 20!. Toronto Ont. Canada. Also. campus "Brownian": required. Pius. write.

me «I; . I»{;"'~L.("r sm.;zn.mr:;zrrja‘:'_£¢tw- > — »

.ment insurance, etc.

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committee have recommended that the Provincial Govern— ment immediately establish civil legal aid for the Fam—' ily Court. This Family Court, hopefully, will start up this fall and handle in

one court all family legal matters and juvenile delin- quency casas. ’

Obviously civil legal aid '

is not happening overnight in P.E.I. When the P.E.I.C.L.A. found out this August that the Provincial Cabinet init- ially turned down a provin- \ cial request for $60,000 to establish civil legal aid for the Family Court, it‘ responded in a news release that unless the Government establishes civil legal aid it will be another instance of justice for the wealthy and no justice for the poor. It is obvious that $60,000 'is a low cost for justice in the Family Court and that cost is not the main reason why there has so far been no indication there will be ci- vil legal aid for the new Family Court. '

In the past year'the P.E.I. Civil Liberties Asso— ciation has handled over 300 complaints and inquiries. Most of these were civil le- gal cases such as family, landlord—tenant,:labour,. consumer, welfare, unemploy— Many of the people involved could not afford a lawyer. The Association has no lawyers. Thus these people are denied access to the court and to justice. e ,

The Association supports, as the best method of deliv-' ering legal aid services,_ the neighiourhood legal aid clinic or storefront law of- fices. It is our view that

~neighbourhood legal clinics

should be community run, th—

at is with a community board with low income citizens on that board. I

The first step must be civil legal aid for low in— come citizens who need law- yers in family matters for the Family Court. The P.E.I.C.L.A. is aware of cases where low income citi— zens desperately need lawy— ers in family matters. The Association consequently fe— els that there is an urgent need for full time lawyers specializing in family law

British Journalist

Katherine Whitehorn,noted British journalist, will de- liver the first in the fall series of University Lectu- res on Tuesday, October 7, in the Duffy Amphithreatre.

A columnist on The Observer”

since 1960, Ms. Whitehorn

will speak on women in jour—e

nalism. The lecture will be— gin at 8:00 pm.

Born in London, she stud- ies at Cambridge Unviersity

where she recieved her Bach~ elor of Arts'Degree, and la-

ter took graduate studies at' 'Cornell University. She

worked on Women's Own and The Spectator before joining

r The Observer as a fashion

editor, a job she gave up in order to cope with a growing family of two boys. Her Sun— day column "Only on Sundays" she writes from her home. From 1965—1967 she was a member of the Latey Commit- tee on the Age of Majority

which brought the age of ma-

.jority in Britain down from 21 to 18 years. She was a member of the BBC Advisory

The Cadre, Oct. 7, 1975, page 3

ens

who can provide legal servi- ces to low income citizens and who could work on a full time basis doing legal edu- cation work.

The Association feels it is essential that the Provi— ncial Government establish civil legal aid for family plegal matters and all other civil type cases. It has already written all the M.L.A.'s on this and hopes to have public meetings to push for the basic right 0 civil legal aid. «

_To Visit UPEI.

Group on the Social Effects of Television, and is a meow ber of the Board of the Bri- tish Airports Authority which runs most of Britian's major airports. She sits on the Civil Service Selection Board. ‘

Her interests include a variety of issues, especial— ly equality of education,ab- ortion reform, the Common

’Market, and a unified Germ;

any.

Her publications include Cooking in a Bedsitter, 1960; Only on Sundays, 1966 (a col- leCtion of her Observer art— icles); and three in a Sur— vival series: How to Survive Socially, In a Hospital, and to be published this fall, How to Survive Children.

She is married to Gavin Lyall, a thriller writer M whose books include The Most Dangerous Game,Midnight Plus

92g, and most recently,Judas Country.

The Cadre gratefully thanks Topics for the mater— ial presented here.

the Sn Bllflll‘llrv

*BCP is a service of Cox Broadcasting Corporation. from Cinerama/An American international Release.

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