The Nipissing Community Legal Clinic is worried it could lose front-line services after the Ford government announced a 30 percent cut to legal aid funding in Ontario.
Chris Bowes, who is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Nipissing Community Legal Clinic, admits the agency doesn’t yet know how the budget reduction will affect the local clinic.
However, Bowes says a cut on the magnitude of 30 percent “will very likely have an impact on our ability to provide front-line services”.
Bowes says a reduction in front-line services could also lead to increased costs elsewhere in the public system.
He says legal aid clinics help vulnerable people in their respective communities.
Bowes adds the local clinic helps people on such critical issues like income and housing.
The Association of Community Legal Clinics in Ontario is calling on Attorney General Caroline Mulroney not to reduce front-line services and make a commitment that the clinics won’t see their funding reduced.
