The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Attorney General Gord Mackintosh has announced that the legislature's Standing Committee on Justice has approved several amendments which would strengthen legislation that is the foundation of improving Manitoba's legal aid system. Bill 47 would require mandatory investigations into the assets of individual applicants charged with criminal organization offences, prohibit eligibility to criminal organizations as a group and strengthen other investigative and collection processes for legal aid. Based on the often repeated concerns of private lawyers who provide legal aid services, the new legal aid Management Council would be mandated to review the tariff of fees paid to lawyers providing legal aid at least once every two years. The review would occur in consultation with the new Advisory Committee, which is comprised of representatives from the Manitoba bar. The council would then make recommendations to the government. This amendment is intended to help address historic inaction on adjusting lawyers' fees. For a period of 13 years, from 1987 to 1999, the fees were frozen but have since increased by 18 per cent.
