Poor doon't deserve poor law.

• Author: Bechtel, Brian

Last spring, 88 Edmonton families took part in a legal needs assessment. Face-to-face and over the telephone, the Edmonton Social Planning Council interviewed families at Edmonton's food bank. The Council was hoping to learn whether Edmonton's poorest families can access lawyers and legal services.

Edmonton has its fair share of nonprofit and public legal services. Legal Aid, the Landlord and Tenant Advisory Board -- these are just a few. But poor Edmontonians seldom use these services. They have trouble accessing them or find the services don't meet their needs.

The poor often have little social power, and their social situation brings with it many legal problems. They work casual, low-paying jobs, often without any job security. As tenants, many encounter questionable landlords. As single parents, many need help with custody and child support.

For the poor, the obvious choice is Legal Aid. But getting Legal Aid isn't easy. Because the Legal Aid Society seldom has the resources to provide comprehensive services, it looks at your income, family size, assets, and liabilities. It then weighs the legal merit and consequences of the case. Would a conviction lead to incarceration or loss of livelihood? The Legal Aid criteria have unfortunate, unintended consequences. Seventy percent of Legal Aid Services go to criminal cases, because judges send criminals to jail. Only 25% of Legal Aid cases are civil because these cases won't send anyone to jail. However, civil cases, like divorce and child custody cases, do have serious consequences. These cases can leave clients hungry and homeless -- consequences that may be even more serious than incarceration.

At Edmonton's Food Bank, the Council found that 56% of the people surveyed had contacted a lawyer. Of those, 47% had criminal problems. The other half had legal problems that belonged in civil court. They had problems at home, at work, and in the marketplace. The assessment found only 15% of these low-income Edmontonians received the legal help they needed.

Eighty-eight percent of the people surveyed had work and money problems. They had problems getting hired, getting paid, and repaying debts. One respondent had been fired, but was afraid of the legal system. Another respondent hadn't been paid. He had called Student Legal Services, but had never heard back. A third respondent was working for a company that went bankrupt. He had only received $250 for a month's work but thought the company...