The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says its lawsuit is the first of its kind in Canada
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association filed a lawsuit challenging Manitoba’s funding scheme for criminal legal aid on Thursday, alleging that the province’s “longstanding extreme underfunding” of free legal services for accused individuals violates their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The lawsuit specifically claims that Manitoba’s funding scheme breaches ss. 7, 11(d), and 15 of the Charter, which protect the right to life, liberty, and security of the person, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a criminal proceeding, and equality rights.
The challenge is the first of its kind in Canada, according to Shakir Rahim, director of the criminal justice program at the CCLA.
“There’s never been a challenge of this nature in other provinces,” Rahim told Canadian Lawyer on Thursday. “But certainly the issue of underfunding of criminal legal aid is one that exists in all provinces and territories.”
In its notice of application, the CCLA asked the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench to recognize the alleged Charter violations. The organization also asked the court to interpret Manitoba’s legal aid regulations as requiring the province to protect the Charter rights of accused individuals who cannot afford a lawyer by giving them free legal services.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General of Canada, one of the defendants in the case, said they are reviewing the CCLA’s notice of application.
The spokesperson, Katelyn Moores, also noted that the Department of Justice Canada’s legal aid program, which contributes funding to provincial legal aid services, has increased funding to the provinces and territories for criminal legal aid in recent years. Moores pointed to the 2026-2027 Main Estimates, which outline the federal government’s spending plans and indicate that federal funding for legal aid has reached over $220 million annually.
“This funding helps promote fair legal proceedings, improves access to justice for economically disadvantaged individuals, and contributes to the effective functioning of the court system,” Moores said.
A spokesperson for the province of Manitoba, the other defendant in the case, declined to comment on the matter because it is before the court.
Manitoba’s criminal legal aid program launched in 1971. Since its inception, the program has been jointly funded by the province and the federal government. The latest criminal legal aid agreement between the province and the federal government, which expires in 2027, states that Canada’s contributions are expected to enable fair, timely, and accessible justice, the CCLA argues. The organization adds that under the agreement, Manitoba is expected to maintain “certain minimum standards” of criminal legal aid in the province.
The CCLA argued that since the 1970s, criminal investigations and prosecutions have become more complex with new technologies and developments in the law, resulting in longer proceedings. The organization referenced data from Statistics Canada’s Integrated Criminal Court Survey, which indicated that in 2023 and 2024, it took a median number of 233 days to complete adult criminal cases in Manitoba outside of a seven-day resolution period. In 2009 and 2010, that figure was 192 days.
The CCLA alleged that Manitoba’s criminal legal aid funding scheme violates the Charter via its eligibility criteria for people seeking free legal services for criminal matters. Under this scheme, a single-person household can earn only up to $31,500 before they stop qualifying for criminal legal aid. The organization claimed that Manitoba’s legal aid system can also reject financially eligible individuals if their case is deemed to have “insufficient” merit.
“Ultimately, the eligibility criteria excludes thousands of accused persons who need criminal legal aid services,” the CCLA alleged.
“Available Department of Justice data confirms that, in 2023 and 2024, there were 19,348 criminal legal aid applications in Manitoba. Of those applications, 18 percent were refused, representing thousands of applications. Forty percent were refused for financial eligibility and eight percent for ‘lack of merit’ (i.e., because of the nature of the case or the seriousness of the matter),” the CCLA claimed, adding that 25 percent of criminal applications by Indigenous individuals were refused.
The organization alleged that Manitoba’s legal aid system underpaid its lawyers, incentivizing “high volume and low preparedness.” Its lawsuit pointed to two individuals represented by lawyers who were “constrained by the limitations of the legal aid certificate.” Both cases led to the individuals being incarcerated for crimes they did not commit, the CCLA said.
Rahim says the CCLA is seeking to change how Manitoba’s legal aid regime approaches funding.
Currently, “the government of Manitoba and federal government and other sources of funding say, here’s how much money you have and legal aid has to sort out and triage what it can fund based on that,” Rahim says. “What we’re saying here is, that’s not how you should determine how much money is necessary.
“You first have to ask, what degree of coverage is necessary to ensure people have a competent defense? What is a reasonable cutoff, income-wise, that ensures that everybody has equitable access?” he adds. “You make those determinations and then you determine how much funding the program needs… It’s really about changing the entire approach to that calculation.”
