Six universities: Laval, Sherbrooke, Ottawa, UQÀM, McGill, and Montréal are working to revive the inter faculty network of the CADED. Thanks to this collaborative effort of the student association of civil law faculties, a strong and well organized CADED is now emerging. Its objective is simple, yet ambitious: to offer students a forum where to voice their claims and groundbreaking ideas, so that they can be heard by governmental agencies, and to build their way to a better future, in which they will be the leaders of society.

One justice for all?

CADED’s main cause this year is one that is dear to its members, and which reflects a common point of view. Students’ associations unite their voices to denounce the inaccessibility of our legal aid system, a truly deplorable situation. The system fails to address the basic needs of its beneficiaries, therefore shaming our democracy.

Although the problem is complex, the main point is that the financial threshold for admissibility to legal aid is set unreasonably low. While the average income of a minimum wage worker is of 17,680$ per year, the threshold for person living alone is set at 12,149$ per year, and it just doesn’t seem right.

CADED, through the students associations, is speaking up for a revision of these financial thresholds, and is urging a speedy governmental intervention.

Let us back in time …

Nearly 40 years ago, the Ministry of Justice established the right for every Quebec citizen to have access to justice. This discourse followed the adoption of a new law on legal aid, bringing along the promise of a better democracy.

The 70s: what a decade! The quintessence of rock music shook the boards of the outdoor stages; feminism triumphed with its asserting beauty; our hockey legends swept the ice of the Forum; and moreover, Quebec’s society enjoyed a judiciary system that was said to be accessible to everyone!

To achieve this goal, the government established a Juridical Services Commission to ensure balanced access to justice based on financial eligibility. Without getting bogged down by details, we can say that the threshold was slightly under the minimum wage and had to undergo indexation in line with inflation. In short, everything seemed to go full swing until the beginning of the 80s, after which the threshold for eligibility literally stagnated because of the State’s weakened financial situation, due to the country’s recession.

Yet there were numerous attempts to solve this problem. Many government studies were undertaken (MacDonald Report in 1991; Legal Aid Report in 1993; and Schabas Report released in 1995). The latest recommendations of the Moreau Report in 2004 were unequivocal: it is imperative to update the eligibility thresholds and to adjust them in a timely manner. The Department of Justice responded promptly. It developed a plan outlining a rise in the said thresholds over a period of five years (2006 to 2010) to enable an additional 900,000 people to have access to legal aid.

What is the situation in 2009? The year is coming to an end, but the frustration still hasn’t disappeared, and it has rather been exacerbated by the poor performance of the Tricolor (we know this detail is inappropriate…). In fact, Our Lady Justice is to blame: the unshakeable pillar of our democracy is more than ever turning her back to thousands of less wealthy Quebecers who are ineligible to the program! The figures speak for themselves. Instead of an increased number of admissions, we are witnessing a raise in the number rejection going from 36,962 in 2006-2007 to 38,575 last year. It is therefore clear that the ministerial plan and its magic number “900,000″ are on the road to perdition.