Using this site

This is the website of Legal Aid BC, a non-profit organization mandated by the provincial government to provide legal aid in British Columbia, Canada.

Site features overview

Our goal is to ensure there is improved online accessibility for our clients and the public. 

  • Navigate from anywhere on the site using the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
  • To return home click the Legal Aid BC logo in the top left-hand corner.
  • The site features a  in the top-right corner of the screen. It searches this site as well as the other Legal Aid BC websites.
  • Use the ​“Leave site now” button to quickly exit the website and be redirected to a safe page.

Note: All links to external websites and PDFs open in a new window/​tab on your screen. To return to the Legal Aid BC site, close the new window/​tab.

Keyboard navigation instructions

You can use the website without a mouse by following these steps:

  1. Dismiss cookie consent notice
    • When shown, the cookie notice button is focused automatically.
    • Press Enter or Space to close the notice and continue navigating the site.
  2. Move between interactive elements
    • Press Tab to move forward.
    • Press Shift + Tab to move backward.
  3. Skip to content
    • Press Tab at the very top of the page. A ​“Skip to main content” link will appear. Press Enter to jump directly to the page’s content.
  4. Activate links and buttons
    • Press Enter to follow a link.
    • Press Space to press a button or toggle controls (like checkboxes).
  5. Navigation bar and dropdown menus
    • Use Tab to move into the navigation bar.
    • Press Down Arrow or Space to open a dropdown menu.
    • Once open, use Up/​Down Arrow keys to move between menu items.
    • Press Enter to activate a selected link.
    • Press Esc to close the menu without activating a link.
  6. Search
    • Press Tab until the search field is highlighted.
    • Press Enter or Space to open the search query.
    • Type your query, use the arrow keys and press Enter to follow a link.
    • Press Esc to close the search query.
  7. Forms
    • Tab through input fields.
    • Use Space or Enter to check/​uncheck boxes.
    • Use arrow keys to select from dropdowns.
    • Press Enter to submit.

Note: These keyboard features are provided to support accessible browsing and help ensure that all visitors can navigate the site effectively.

Tooltips and popups

Words with a glossary definition appear with a dotted underline like this.

  • Hover with the mouse or focus with the keyboard to display the term’s definition in a tooltip.
  • Press Esc to close any tooltip or popup.

Links on this site may include labels or icons to indicate what to expect when you select them:

  • PDF links – Marked with “(PDF)” at the end of the link text. Selecting these opens or downloads a PDF file, depending on your browser settings.
  • Download PDF links – Marked with “(download PDF)”. These links will automatically save the file to your device instead of opening it in the browser. This option is used for fillable PDFs that require Adobe Acrobat or another compatible PDF viewer to complete and save forms properly.
  • External links – Identified with an external link icon (for example, an arrow or globe symbol). These open in a new browser tab or window.
  • Internal links – Standard links within this website (.legalaid​.bc​.ca) open in the same tab.

Using Adobe Acrobat PDF files

The resources and many other materials on this website are posted as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. PDF files are compact and download quickly. They open in a new window on your screen. All PDFs open and print easily from both PC and Mac computers. The pages you print from PDF files will look almost the same as they do on screen.

To view PDFs, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download for free from the Adobe website. The software is self-installing; just double-click on the installer file. Depending on your computer, Adobe Acrobat Reader may take awhile to download, but you will only have to do this once.

Many of our PDFs are made with bookmarks (a content list on the left-hand side of the page that lets you link to different sections in the PDF). Some of the multilingual PDF files on this site contain English bookmarks. To open these bookmarks, click on the Bookmarks tab, which you’ll find along the left-hand side of the PDF.

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