Justice Services

Offices and Divisions

Legal Access Policy Division

LAPD works to ensure that persons involved in criminal and some civil cases have access to appropriate legal information, advice or representation. LAPD activities include:

• managing the government’s legal aid funding contributions to the Legal Services Society (LSS), an independent agency that delivers legal aid services in the areas of criminal, young offender, child protection, family, and immigration;
  
• acting as the primary liaison with LSS and other government and non-government organizations on legal aid and access to criminal justice issues;
  
• providing strategic planning and policy development in the area of legal aid in constitutional right to counsel cases, including complex situations of publicly-funded legal representation such as the Air India and Pickton cases; and
  
• representing the province as a member of the federal/provincial/territorial Permanent Working Group on Legal Aid, which provides a forum for discussion about legal aid related issues and promotes the development and implementation of legal aid policy in Canada.