Potential changes to Legal Aid Alberta funding source raises alarm among non-profits

By Matthew Scace A non-profit that helps fund Legal Aid Alberta is raising concern over potential funding changes by the provincial government that it says would limit access to justice for vulnerable and low-income Albertans. The Alberta Law Foundation said Wednesday that the provincial government is proposing to double the foundation’s mandatory contribution rate to Legal Aid Alberta to 50 per cent from 25 per cent. The foundation generates revenue from interest earned on a lawyers’ pooled trust accounts. It then distributes that revenue to non-profits, including Legal Aid Alberta and smaller clinics like the Indigenous Justice Centre and Community Legal Clinic. Boosting the contribution to Legal Aid Alberta will make less funding available to those smaller outfits, many of which rely fully on the foundation, said executive director Byron Chan….

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