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Learning Objectives
- To compare different theoretical perspectives addressing social services and legal representation.
- To recognize the importance of equal access to social services and legal representation.
- To identify changing trends in the demand for social services and legal representation.
- To name barriers to equal access to social services and legal representation.
- To evaluate efforts to equalize access to social services and legal representation in Canada.
Summary
Introduction
Social services are programs and interventions that seek to promote the general welfare of others. They may be provided by the government or by not-for-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations. Some are provided at no cost to the consumer, while others are subsidized by the government to lessen the cost to consumers. They are theoretically available to everybody who shows a need. Social services can be critical in emergencies and play an important role in creating social cohesion and inclusion. However, they can be expensive to run. Often the programs that endure are either less costly or considered more useful than others. Political ideologies can also determine which programs are funded.
In Canada, the right to legal counsel is constitutionally protected, meaning that every Canadian is entitled to legal help when they need it. However, many people struggle to secure satisfactory and suitable legal representation, typically due to cost. Legal aid provides legal representation for those who cannot afford it.
Theoretical Perspectives on Access to Legal Representation and Social Services
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, legal scholars viewed the legal system as a system of rational decisions. However, in the 1930s and again in the 1960s, scholars became interested in how social inequality shaped and distorted the actual workings of the law and government. Sociologists frequently observe that people and institutions act non-rationally, even while justifying themselves on rational grounds. A piece of legislation may aim to accomplish one outcome, but for a variety of reasons actually accomplishes a different one.
By the 1960s, the sociology of law became more focused on practical problem solving. According to Jerome Skolnick, the sociology of law began to concern itself with the impact of social stratification on the justice system, how individuals can obtain justice in a mass industrial society, and how laws have held up in private and public organizations. Donald Black argued that we can learn a lot about the legal system as a whole by watching police behaviour. This is similar to Max Weber’s assertion that we develop the sociology of law by watching what social institutions with authority do regarding social control.
Publicly funded social services are based on formal legislation and administered by a professional bureaucracy. As Weber pointed out, bureaucracy involves applying written rules in a fair and systematic way. However, bureaucracies do not always work the way they are expected to, due to contending personalities, values, and interests within the organization and the values and goals of elected politicians.
Today, functionalists still see legal and social services as tools that help society run more efficiently, developed to appease the masses and ensure the survival of the dominant capitalist order. Conflict theorists view legal and social services as superficial solutions to social problems – such as poverty, racism, and sexism – that need deeper, longer-term solutions. The underlying problem is the political and economic organization of society, especially the class structure. Finally, symbolic interactionists pay attention to the social construction of claims and narratives around social inequality. They are interested in the ways the media, politicians, and other prominent figures present the legitimacy of claims to legal and social assistance, and how people make and defend claims about the need for certain costly social services. They also explore the way people interpret and use legal and social services.
Changing Trends in the Demand for Legal and Social Services
The demand for legal and social services in Canada has intensified over the past few decades. The Government of Canada reports that this is the result of many factors, including “unstable family structure, family violence, child poverty, aging of the population, stress, alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling addiction, dropping out of school, behavioural problems, traumatic events, etc.” (Service Canada 2013). Other proposed reasons for this trend are the increasing number of single-parent households and the rapid growth of the Canadian seniors population. Social services are also needed to address problems that were once kept private, including stress, anxiety, addiction, mental health, and behavioural challenges. Legal representation is also critically important for Canadians today, but the availability of legal services in Canada is not keeping pace with increasing demand. For example, declines in funding for legal aid services have meant reduced access to lawyers for people who need them most.
Low-Income People in Canada
Many low-income Canadians cannot access legal representation and social services, even those specifically intended for people with low incomes. One barrier is location. To remedy this, some cities have started improving social and legal services in less-affluent neighbourhoods. Having a social service nearby promotes use, but other factors also influence accessibility. These include service language, whether the site is designed to serve people with disabilities, fees, hours of service, waiting lists, and less tangible factors (e.g., whether a user feels welcome and respected).
The high cost of legal representation and a lack of knowledge of the legal system pose barriers for many Canadians. Each province and territory in Canada provides some form of legal aid, but the demand far exceeds the supply. There are discrepancies in coverage among jurisdictions and fragmented coverage within a legal aid program. As funding for these programs is increasingly limited, the eligibility requirements become narrower, and the lawyers are typically overworked, underpaid, and underresourced. This disproportionately impacts populations like women and Indigenous Peoples, who are overrepresented among the poor.
The Criminal Justice System
Because of the unequal structuring of our society, the people most likely to be caught up in the criminal justice system, either as offenders or victims, are also most likely to need legal aid.
Imprisonment is costly and ineffective. It can cost roughly $100,000 to imprison one adult for a single year. Moreover, prisonization produces prisoners who have been effectively socialized into prison life, but who cannot live effectively outside it. Once released, many commit new crimes and return to prison, in a process known as recidivism. Recidivism may also be a product of the reduced life chances of inmates after release, due to the stigma of a criminal conviction, decreased human capital, and weakened social connections.
Low-income people are more likely to need legal representation because illegal acts committed by low-income people are more likely to come to the attention of law enforcement personnel. Low-income people and their families have fewer resources to draw on to avoid arrest and imprisonment, and there might be greater police presence in lower-income neighbourhoods. Low-income people are more likely to be the targets of random “stop and check” operations (carding). They are also more likely to be detained when arrested, charged by the police, denied bail, and convicted of their charges. Once released from prison, low-income Canadians face more difficulties accessing safe housing, employment, and social supports. This increases their chances of recidivism and, therefore, their need for quality legal representation.
Racialized People in Canada
There is clear evidence of differential treatment of and prejudice against racialized people by police, courts, and other official organizations. For a variety of current and historical, economic, cultural, social, and familial factors, young Black people are more likely to attract police attention than white people and to receive harsher sentences if convicted. Once released from prison, many former convicts struggle to secure a job, but this hiring bias impacts Black job applicants more than other racialized groups. This perpetuates a cycle of unemployment and imprisonment, which fuels distrust of police and the criminal justice system.
Discrimination (or the fear of discrimination) may deter racialized populations from accessing social services, such as healthcare and mental health services. When it comes to legal aid, racialized people face barriers that are often the result of multiple intersecting identities. For example, after arrest, people may be remanded into custody while awaiting trial or allowed in the community on bail. Racialized people are far more likely than white people to be held in remand.
Young People in Canada
Many key social services target youth homelessness, as an estimated 20 per cent of homeless Canadians are young people. Some shelters earmark beds especially for youth, but currently the need outweighs the availability. LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented among homeless youth and face additional challenges when accessing a safe place to shelter. That’s why there are a handful of shelters in Canada for this population specifically, including Sprott House in Toronto. Indigenous youth are also at an increased risk of becoming homeless.
Employment is key to helping homeless youth transition from the streets to a stable home. Homeless youth face great difficulties in getting and keeping employment. Social services like drop-in employment centres and life skills workshops have proven to be effective in helping youth secure employment. However, homeless youth in Toronto, for example, continue to reveal a shortage of employment services and support programs designed for this population. Homeless people also have difficulty accessing employment enrichment programs, especially if language barriers are present. As well, the lack of employment centres able to help youth with substance abuse or mental health issues is cited as a barrier to employment.
Women in Canada
Shelters can be unsafe spaces for women. Many women choose to remain in dangerous and unhealthy situations in order to avoid the risk of violence on the street. Women also face greater difficulties in accessing Canada’s EI program, as they are more likely to work in non-standard or precarious jobs, leave paid employment temporarily, and work shorter hours.
Women’s need for legal representation is more likely to be in family law and civil law, whereas men are more likely to need representation in criminal law. When certain areas of legal aid are cut, women can suffer the effects more than men. Sometimes legal aid is only available for a person who is fearful for the safety of herself or her children. For women who do receive legal aid, reduced funding means that fewer lawyers make clients on legal aid their priority or take on these cases at all. Nonetheless, access to legal representation can improve women’s quality of life, especially those experiencing domestic violence.
Seniors in Canada
The elderly population is the fastest growing group in Canada by a wide margin. In addition to encountering financial trouble, many seniors need help with tasks that require strength, dexterity, and good eyesight. Similarly, they may require in-home care as they age and encounter health challenges. Moreover, seniors are more likely to develop a disability. Many of the barriers faced by disabled people therefore also prevent seniors from fully accessing available social services.
Immigrants in Canada
Many immigrants arrive in Canada in need of settlement services and legal support. However, immigrants who do not speak English may lack the communication skills necessary to learn about or engage with available services. Sometimes a social service may exist, but its delivery doesn’t work for some populations in need – for example, when food banks limit consumers to food that is religiously or culturally inappropriate. Another factor that limits access to services is eligibility requirements, as federally funded settlement services are, in most provinces, only available to permanent residents and refugees. This means that temporary workers, foreign students, and non-status immigrants are excluded. Fear of detention or deportation may also deter non-status immigrants from accessing social services. Moreover, given their relative obscurity, gathering reliable data about the unique needs of non-status immigrants is a challenge.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada
Indigenous Peoples are overrepresented as offenders and victims of crime, and they receive longer sentences than average. Suggestions for reducing imprisonment rates among Indigenous populations include reconsidering culturally insensitive laws.
Indigenous Peoples have a significant need for legal aid. This has led to the development of Indigenous-specific criminal justice programs and services. However, Indigenous Peoples still face unique barriers in accessing legal representation. These barriers grow out of Canada’s long history of systemic marginalization of Indigenous Peoples. Struggles over land ownership and treaty rights, intellectual property, traditional governance, and resource harvesting, all of which were largely negotiated through the legal system, have often left Indigenous Peoples out in the cold. Many Indigenous Peoples prefer to work with Indigenous legal agencies that provide culturally sensitive services. The difficulty accessing legal representation is greatest for those living in rural regions or on reserves. There are fewer affordable legal services available, and those living there often have less knowledge of the available legal resources.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada also face particular difficulties in correctional services. They are often classified as higher security risks than non-Indigenous inmates and released later in their sentences. They are more likely to have their conditional release rights revoked and to be placed in segregation. This limits their access to “rehabilitation” programs. Indigenous-specific programs for Indigenous inmates can be highly effective but have not been fully implemented.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada face difficulties when accessing other social services as well. Rehabilitation and mental health services are difficult to access and often ineffective, with a lack of culturally specific programs. Difficulty getting a diagnosis, communication issues, stigma, and transportation issues hinder Indigenous Peoples’ access to these services. The underresourcing of Indigenous Peoples on-reserve is also a social problem.
People with Disabilities in Canada
The Government of Canada supports some social services for those with a disability or a chronic illness. The most-cited form of social support is the Canada Pension Plan for Disability Benefits. However, many find it is not enough to live on.
Canadians with a disability or chronic illness are more likely to need social services, but they face more barriers to accessing them. Physical barriers such as stairs or narrow doorways may hinder someone’s ability to access services. Doctors may exclude people with disabilities from their roster. Those with disabilities are often reluctant to access health and social services because of the fear of being forced to pay out of pocket. Indigenous Peoples with a disability experience additional barriers to health and social services, as they become ineligible for transfer funds when they move off-reserve in pursuit of better support for a disability. However, accessing social services is an important way to decrease the negative effects of a disability.
Consequences of Unequal Access to Social Services and Legal Representation
Informal social supports are important, but they cannot replace specialized services that all people, and especially disadvantaged people, occasionally need. Chief among these are legal services when dealing with welfare, immigration, the police, or other arms of the government. A lack of access to quality, affordable legal and social services compounds the disadvantage that people already experience. It is true that specialized, professional services are costly. However, they help correct and prevent problems that, if untreated, will become even more costly in both financial and human terms.
Strategies of Resistance
The Canadian government can make social services and legal representation more accessible by creating new programs and policies that promote inclusiveness. For example, it can set up more support services for cultural sensitivity training and develop outreach and follow-up services for vulnerable groups. Increasing the funding for legal aid would allow more people to get the legal support they need. The federal government could also ensure that legal aid is more accessible to Canadians by making access a constitutional right.
Legal representation for low-income youth in and around Toronto is available from Justice for Children and Youth (JFCY). JFCY is a not-for-profit legal aid clinic that focuses on providing legal services to those in conflict with the legal, education, social services, or mental health systems. They provide legal advice and support to youth and their parents as well as professionals and groups in communities throughout Ontario. JFCY helps homeless youth in particular through their outreach and education program Street Youth Legal Services (SYLS).
In 2011, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin spoke out against the inequities of the Canadian legal system in her keynote address at a colloquium at the University of Toronto. McLachlin expressed her disappointment in the inaccessibility of the Canadian legal system to the middle and lower classes and compelled the lawyers in the audience to use their skills for good. Several solutions were suggested during the conference, and the speech sparked a national discussion on the topic.