Legal Aid Service Delivery in Rural and Remote Communities across Canada: Issues and Perspectives in the Context of COVID-19

This report presents research findings on the delivery of legal aid and associated legal services to persons living in rural and remote areas of all provinces and territories. It is based on a review of the literature and interviews with 17 key respondents (with one or more from each jurisdiction) who were either directly involved in or had oversight of delivery of legal services in rural and remote areas of their jurisdictions. For the purposes of this project, the definition of rural and remote was:

• Rural population: Persons living outside of the commuting zone of urban areas with 10,000 or more people.^Footnote1
• Remote communities: Those that have a degree of isolation from neighbouring communities. The availability of commercial transportation between communities is a significant determining factor.

Key findings from the literature review and the key respondent interviews are shown below. Although listed separately, the findings should not be seen as solely derived from one or the other methodology, as there was frequent overlap and reinforcement between the two sources of information.

Key Findings from the Literature Review

• Legal services clients in rural and remote areas are predominately Indigenous persons, males with criminal law matters, seniors, and women with family law matters. The first two categories often overlap.
• The literature review highlighted difficulties with access to services and technology for many clients in rural/remote areas. Difficulties include lack of connection to the Internet, lack of income to afford or the ability to use technology necessary to engage with legal services, and lack of physical spaces or locations in which to use technology.
• Partnerships with other agencies – both for transportation and problem resolution – are key to providing necessary services in rural and remote areas. Various forms of partnership are described in the literature, including women’s centres, libraries, community legal clinics and community social, health and mental health centres.
• Promising technological approaches include apps for legal service users, and the installation of video suites in service locations to facilitate communication between legal service providers and clients.
• Two Canadian Bar Association reports suggest prioritizing the expanded use of remote proceedings and technology to support target groups in rural and remote areas. Other reports advocate incentivizing law students to practice in rural locations, developing stronger alliances with local non-legal service providers and providing mobile outreach services.

Key Findings from Interviews

• Primary issues were criminal and family law-related (approximately half the issues), followed by housing/landlord/tenant matters and other poverty law issues (each at approximately a quarter of issues)
• The degree to which the two official languages and several Indigenous languages are spoken varies considerably across the country, as does the availability of translation services – both formal and informal.
• The provision of minority language services related to legal processes varies considerably across the country.
• A shortage of lawyers and judges who live in the community, as well as options for communicating with clients in lieu of face-to-face meetings are two key challenges in the organization and funding of legal aid for rural and remote areas.
• Transportation – the lack of public and private transportation in almost all jurisdictions is a primary obstacle to problem resolution for residents in rural and remote areas.
  • Although PLEI services (either on-line or in agency or public libraries) are quite widely available, their use is often limited by users’ ability to use technology and undertake research.
  • There have been few monitoring and evaluation initiatives put in place to assess legal services provision in rural and remote areas.
  • The pandemic initially reduced the overall number of legal cases because courts were shut down. Therefore, overall service costs were reduced. As public health measures eased and courts resumed regular operations there were significant backlogs and long dockets in small communities, putting major stress on fly-in lawyers and local staff.
  • The use of remote technology became more common and accepted during the pandemic, and many aspects of remote delivery of legal services are convenient for both lawyers and clients. However, technological solutions are not a panacea for persons living in rural and remote areas. These clients often have poor access to the Internet, cannot afford technology and/or lack the technical skills to use it. These clients will continue to need assistance either in-person or with low-tech (e.g., telephone or video) mechanisms in the post-pandemic period.