Law Foundation concerned over changes to funding model
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on April 16, 2025.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com
The Alberta Law Foundation is calling on the provincial government to reverse course regarding changes proposed to amend the Legal Profession Act through Bill 39, the Financial Statutes Amendment Act, 2025.
These changes will affect Lethbridge residents who rely on Lethbridge Legal Guidance to access legal services and supports.
The Alberta Law Foundation was created in 1973 and it is the primary funder of access to justice initiatives across the province. The foundation derives most of its revenue from interest on lawyers’ pooled trust accounts.
ALF Executive Director Byron Chan says the foundation was created to make sure that the interest revenue is legislated, so that is used to support and assist Albertans in the legal process, particularly those who may otherwise not have access to counsel
Chan says when the ALF was created, it was made very clear through the legislative history that the interest revenue should not be used to fund Legal Aid, because that is the provincial government’s responsibility. But in 1991, they were prescribed to give 25 per cent of their revenue to Legal Aid Alberta.
Chan adds that the interest revenue shouldn’t go to general government revenue, because this is private client money that they hold in their lawyer’s trust accounts.
Bill 39, if passed, will require ministerial approval for all ALF grants over $250,000 and mandate the foundation to double its required contribution to Legal Aid, from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of its annual revenue.
Chan says these changes will introduce political oversight into a process that has historically been nonpartisan, independent and profession-led, and it will also cut government contributions to Legal Aid, making ALF shoulder the burden.
He adds that by increasing their required contribution to Legal Aid, the government is taking away money that would otherwise be used to fund other initiatives that help Albertans access justice.
Chan explains that those access to justice initiatives are primarily for Albertans who do not qualify for Legal Aid under the financial eligibility thresholds but are experiencing some sort of vulnerability that otherwise prevents them from accessing legal services and supports. Here in Lethbridge, that includes Lethbridge Legal Guidance.
“Lethbridge Legal Guidance depends entirely on Alberta Law Foundation for its funding and for its sustainability,” says Chan. “If the foundation did not fund the Lethbridge Legal Guidance, it would not exist.”
When it comes to the ministerial approval for grants over $250,000 Chan says the board has approved 15 applications exceeding that amount in March and now need ministerial approval after the bill was tabled.
“Our board approved over $23 million in grants to be made available to these organizations,” says Chan. “But (Justice Minister Mickey Amery) only approved one of them, he denied five of them and for nine of them the minister reduced the amount of funding they will receive.”
He says the reasoning behind Amery’s decision to deny or reduce the funding provided by ALF wasn’t based on meeting the front-line service delivery model.
One of the applications that had their funding reduced came from Lethbridge Legal Guidance. It applied for $2.66 million over three years and that was approved by the foundation’s board of directors.
“The minister only approved $1.8 million,” says Chan. “He reduced that approved funding by over $860,000, or nearly one third of their funding request.”
That’s problematic because part of that funding request was going to be used for new office space since LLG has reached significant constraints in what it’s able to do in its current office space.
“There is no current capacity for their staff lawyers to have private and confidential conversations with clients that come in and access their services,” says Chan.
Currently when a client comes in and needs to speak with one of their lawyers, that conversation is held in the front foyer, and they have to close the rest of the clinic to any other client who may need to come in while that takes place.
“They’ve also had significant concerns with security and safety for staff since the serious incident happened in 2022 where the safety of their staff was significantly threatened and jeopardized,” says Chan.
In general, he says, the changes suggested to be made to the Legal Profession Act through Bill 39 will significantly compromise Albertans’ ability to access justice when they need it.
“Because resources are being funnelled out of the justice sector into general government revenue and away from the organizations and communities that need it most,” says Chan.
Even more problematic is the fact that right now they have resources available to help various organizations, but the government is stopping them from being able to do so by deciding to either reduce or cut the funding to those that need it.
The bill has also halted the foundation’s $100-million commitment to a new Indigenous Law Institute based out of the University of Alberta.
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I thought about it, because if such organizations start losing support, who will protect the interests of ordinary people? I decided to look deeper, started reading opinions, found a lot of interesting things on the https://www.deveregroup.reviews/ website – there I found not only complaints, but also reasoning on this topic. It is interesting to see how real people perceive changes, and not just official news.