As the provincial government follows through on its goal of reducing deficit spending, another local agency is scrambling to make contingency plans to deal with funding cuts from the province.
The government has cut Legal Aid Ontario’s funding province-wide by 30 to 35 percent and locally the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre (CALC) believes its services to low-income people in the area will be seriously affected.
The CALC helps low-income people deal with legal issues regarding income, housing, employment, debt problems, and consumer contracts.
The Chair of the CALC Board of Directors Peter Kerr says “funding cuts will be devastating for the low-income community”.
Details on the cutbacks locally aren’t known yet. The cuts will also affect those on low-income who need a criminal lawyer to represent them in court.
