LAO began developing its Domestic Violence Strategy by looking at our services through the lens of a client who has experienced or is experiencing domestic violence.

This is one in a series of posts exploring the legal needs of domestic violence clients.

Curtis’ story

Curtis* plans to leave an abusive three-year relationship with Amy within the month. He has wanted to leave for years, but stayed for their son, three-year-old Ben.

Amy is the primary breadwinner. She is financially controlling and constantly belittling Curtis, who hasn’t been able to work for several months because of an injury from a construction job. He keeps quiet because he’s afraid of what people will think of him when they learn his wife beats him.

When Curtis decides to take Ben and leave, Amy calls 911 and accuses Curtis of abusing both her and their son.

If he’s convicted— and even if he doesn’t go to jail — he could lose custody of Ben, who would then live with his abusive mother. Curtis could also have problems with access to housing and he might even lose his job.

Until recently, he might not have been able to get a criminal legal aid certificate because he wouldn’t have been eligible. Before June 2015, Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), like many other legal aid plans, applied a “loss of liberty” test to determine legal eligibility for representation by a criminal lawyer. “Loss of liberty” means you are facing jail time if convicted.

The impact of a criminal charge

Fortunately for Curtis, in early June 2015, LAO expanded legal services for the first time in 25 years. LAO made this change after consultations with our justice partners, who told us about the need to move beyond the “loss of liberty test” because the impact of a criminal conviction is much greater than in the past.

For someone like Curtis, who is a first-time accused, a conviction can change everything and prevent him from leading a full and productive life. More and more, employers ask for a criminal record check, and a conviction could prevent Curtis from either keeping his job or finding a new job to support himself and his son.

Even if Curtis isn’t convicted, his problems don’t end.

Because police services collect and retain information about some of the people they come in contact with, Curtis would now have a non-conviction record that may appear in more detailed police record checks. This could hurt his ability to enrol in certain educational programs, get a certain professional or non-professional licenses or even a job.

What LAO is doing

Under LAO’s expanded criminal law services, someone with no previous criminal record who is experiencing domestic violence may be eligible for representation by a lawyer. That person can also get a legal aid certificate for the following issues:

• the immediate loss of either existing livelihood, professional accreditation, educational opportunity
• loss of access to family and child custody
• risk of deportation
• immediate loss of public housing, social assistance, or other public benefits/social services
• risk of being added to sexual offenders registry

Feedback can lead to changes

Change comes about through the input, feedback and suggestions of justice partners. As with all of our new programs and services, our expanded criminal law services were developed through extensive consultations. Vulnerable client groups—such as those who have experienced domestic violence—were flagged as particularly important for LAO to focus on because the additional barriers that these clients face in accessing justice.

Developing a domestic violence strategy means taking a similar route.

Let’s talk.

Tell us about your experiences with the criminal justice system. What works? What doesn’t? What are things we need to consider?

We’ll be holding in-person consultation sessions throughout the next several months. Please attend. If you can’t, you can read our discussion paper, Development of a Domestic Violence Strategy, and email us at dvs@lao.on.ca with your thoughts and feedback.

*Not their real names. All personal examples in this post are based on composites of client experiences. LAO prioritizes client confidentiality, and only publishes client names and experiences when the client has provided consent, in writing.