This past spring, the Ontario provincial government defunded Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), contending that the federal government ought to cover the full cost of federal refugee and immigration law services. The move required the organization to rely solely on federal funding, which at the time, was not nearly enough to cover costs.
LAO issued 13,687 certificates for immigration and refugee services last year, covering 13 per cent of the total number of certificates issued. The organization spends about $34 million a year for refugee law services, of which $18 million came from the province. The federal government was originally slated to provide $16 million in funding this year for refugee law work, but the entire program costs about $45 million.
In August, the Federal Liberal government announced an additional one-time injection of $25.7 million in funding to address the shortfall. There is still no long-term funding plan.
While refugee and immigration is a federal matter, critics noted that criminal law also falls under federal jurisdiction; and there is no reasoned distinction for eliminating one from provincial funding and not the other.
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