Two years ago, East Preston resident Brenton Sparks, his wife, Rosemary, and their three young daughters were receiving income assistance in the form of a monthly cheque totalling slightly more than $1,000. In return, Brenton was expected to look for work and meet with an employment counsellor. When he missed a meeting due to a family emergency, the Department of Community Services suspended the family鈥檚 entire assistance cheque for six weeks in the middle of winter.
Brenton appealed the department鈥檚 cut-off of the family鈥檚 income assistance to the Assistance Appeal Board and lost. He then applied for judicial review of that decision to the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and lost again. But in a recent ruling, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal sided with Sparks against Community Services 鈥� thanks to the pro bono efforts of various organizations, including Dalhousie Legal Aid Service (DLAS).
Representing Brenton in court was Dal law school alumnus Vincent Calderhead of the Halifax firm Pink Larkin. Claire McNeil, a DLAS staff lawyer since 1991, represented both Rosemary and her children and the Women鈥檚 Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), which was an intervener in the case. (LEAF鈥檚 mandate is to protect and promote the interests of women and children in Canada.)
The decision to cut off the family鈥檚 social assistance had a terrible effect on their health and well-being: they had no money for heat and had to move, and they couldn鈥檛 afford food and other necessities. The Court of Appeal agreed. In his decision, Chief Justice Michael MacDonald said: 鈥淪imply put, denying innocent people, living in poverty, the funds they need for financial survival cannot be sustained by any reasonable interpretation of the governing legislation.鈥� The province鈥檚 top court lifted the suspension of benefits for Rosemary and the children and ordered the province to pay Brenton鈥檚 legal costs of about $2,000.
Leading to changes in the law
Claire McNeil believes the Sparks decision is changing the conversation about poverty鈥檚 impact on women and children. 鈥淚n the last 20 years, I鈥檝e never seen a groundbreaking decision like this about poverty from the Court of Appeal,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be interesting to see how the Sparks decision is going to change the law.鈥�
The Court鈥檚 decision was a major victory for the Sparks family. 鈥淚t didn鈥檛 change the hardship they endured, but they felt they had been heard and that their case will help others 鈥� there is dignity in that,鈥� says McNeil. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great when the justice system works, but when it doesn鈥檛 work those are great learning opportunities for our students. The cases we fight and lose are just as important to reflect on and figure out a way forward.鈥�
The students to which McNeil is referring are the 16 third-year Schulich School of Law students who spend a semester working at the Clinic in return for 13 credits. Last year, law students Kym Sweeney and Sarah Gillet worked on the Sparks file (they graduated in May). They read the application to intervene, took instructions from the client and did a lot of research and writing.
This semester Katie Smith has been assigned to the file. She鈥檚 drafting a freedom of information request to send to Community Services to find out how many people have been cut off income assistance when another person in their family appears to have broken one of the rules.
鈥淲orking on the Sparks file has influenced my work and research on other files here,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 given me a different perspective generally about the issues my clients face, because virtually all of them are on income assistance. When a family鈥檚 benefits get cut off, it鈥檚 devastating.鈥�
Smith recognizes that while the legislation hasn鈥檛 changed, the Sparks decision is precedent-setting because it transforms the court鈥檚 interpretation of the Employment Support and Income Assistance Act in Nova Scotia. 鈥淚ncome assistance work and family law are rewarding areas of law because you get to work with clients one on one and make a huge difference in their lives,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t has its own stressors, because you鈥檙e dealing with real people and some of the situations are tense, but there鈥檚 great support from supervisors and the other students.鈥�
Canada鈥檚 oldest clinical law program and Nova Scotia鈥檚 only community law clinic
Claire McNeil was in Smith鈥檚 shoes in 1984, when she was a Dal law student under then DLAS director Professor Rollie Thompson. 鈥淚 attended an open house during second year, talked to upper years who had worked there, and thought it sounded amazing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 worked there for the summer and stayed for the fall term. It鈥檚 where I discovered the reason why I went to law school and what being a lawyer was all about.鈥�
Opened in 1970, DLAS began as a summer project of five Dal law students based at the Halifax Neighbourhood Centre (it has been in its current location at 2209 Gottingen St. since 1998). At the time, it was the first legal service for poor people in Nova Scotia. Today, it鈥檚 the only community law clinic in the province and the oldest clinical law program in Canada. It has five full-time staff lawyers and two community legal workers. As many as 16 law students can be representing as many as 10 clients under the supervising staff in the fall and winter and up to 12 in the summer.
Donna Franey, who graduated from Dal鈥檚 law school in 1986, was a DLAS staff lawyer from 1990 to 1995, when she became executive director. She describes the Sparks case as 鈥渓andmark鈥� and feels that it speaks to DLAS鈥檚 mission, which is to have an impact on an individual level but also on the broader societal issues that impact people who live on low incomes.
鈥淥ur students get to see law reform through the courts and to help make a positive change in society 鈥� that鈥檚 what this case does,鈥� says Franey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a privilege for us to do this kind of work.鈥�