Recently, the Attorney-General, Madeleine Meilleur announced the infusion of significant new resources to the financial eligibility guideline for Legal Aid Ontario. By doing this, the government is moving forward on the commitment it made in the June 2014 Provincial budget.
The additional funding means that eventually over a million people will be eligible for legal aid, almost doubling the number eligible today.
The Attorney-General stated that the increased funding to the FEG will come in for November 1, 2014 with additional funding slated to come in April 2015 and April 2016. The funding increases will continue for between 8-10 years and will be applied to all LAO services including the certificate program, duty council programs and community legal aid clinics.
In light of our work with low income tenants, it is clear that this additional funding will improve access to justice and help us better serve tenants.