The Demand For Legal Aid
Thousands of people apply for legal aid every year. To qualify for representation by a lawyer, applicants must have a low income and their legal issue must be covered by our policies. Lawyers are contracted by Legal Aid BC to do legal aid work on behalf of eligible clients.
Child Protection Law
66% of child protection applications are approved. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you may have a right to a lawyer if your children might be taken away by the government.
Criminal Law
82% of criminal applications are approved. If you are charged with a crime and are at risk of going to jail, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms you may have a right to have a lawyer represent you in court.
Family Law
49% of family law applicants are approved for a lawyer to represent them. There is a high demand for family law services, but to keep within budget, Legal Aid BC has to limit these services to situations where safety is at risk or there’s a persistent denial of access to children.
Immigration & Refugee Law
76% of immigration applicants receive a lawyer to help them apply for refugee status or to face an immigration proceeding that could result in removal from Canada.
Parents Legal Centres
Parents Legal Centres (PLC) help parents with their child protection matters in 10 communities across the province. 23 PLC Network locations increase access to PLC services.
In 2021/22, PLC staff provided legal representation to 578 new clients and held 294 engagement activities with Indigenous communities.
How We’re Funded
Funding in 2021/22 was $114.0 million. Most of our funding comes from the BC government. We also receive generous funding from the Law Foundation and Notary Foundation.
We Are Accountable
We are accountable for public funds and are required by government to have a balanced budget.
Direct Lawyer Services
Close to 940 lawyers in private practice take legal aid work.
Lawyers represented over 21,417 legal aid clients and provided over 105,874 legal advice services.
Direct lawyer services include lawyer representation in court, legal advice services, and duty counsel.
Direct Information Services
Legal Information Outreach Workers interacted with clients 12,028 times.
The Aboriginal Community Legal Worker working in Nanaimo/Duncan interacted with clients 365 times.
Legal information services are provided in person and over the phone.
Legal Information Services
Legal Aid BC is the largest producer of public legal information in BC.
28,468
Publications distributed
17,359
Publications downloaded
Annual Website Users
531,664
Family Law in BC website
33,912
Aboriginal Legal Aid in BC website
247,117
Legal Aid BC website
39,037
MyLawBC website