QUEEN’S PARK — Mike Schreiner released this statement after Bill 161 passed in the legislature.
“I voted against Bill 161 because it restricts access to justice for people who need it the most.
The fundamental changes to legal aid set the stage for vulnerable people to be denied representation on matters of family, employment and immigration law.
To tackle systemic racism in Ontario, the Premier should be increasing access to justice for racialized individuals, but he is doing the opposite.
The changes to class action lawsuits continue the Premier’s troubling pattern of shielding the government and large corporations from legal responsibility.
Under these new rules, the victims of the Walkerton tragedy, the tainted blood scandal, and the residential school system would have struggled to get the justice they rightly deserved.
At a time when families of loved ones in long-term care will be seeking justice for the COVID-19 tragedy, the government is putting legal roadblocks in their way.”