“I actually really struggle with the idea of pop-up clinics in remote communities... I think it makes more sense to work with members in the community ... so members of the community can build that trust and connect with the clinic...”
– Family violence service provider, Safe, Heard and Protected: What We Heard Report, Legal Aid BC (2024)
Today, Legal Aid BC announced that it will be introducing the following changes starting in spring 2026:
- Adding new in-person Family Law Centre offices in Kamloops and Prince George, with new full-time staff. This expansion will bring more equitable access to legal services to survivors of intimate partner violence in BC's interior and north, and increase Centre capacity overall.
- Eligibility criteria for family law legal aid services have also been expanded, ensuring more people impacted by intimate partner violence can access this vital support each year.
In 2024, a new multidisciplinary clinic model of family law legal aid was established, and $29.1 million in government investment was secured. The Family Law Centres were developed collaboratively with government and CFE, with support from Westcoast Leaf.
We value our ongoing collaboration with Legal Aid BC to continue to strengthen and expand these crucial services. These developments will have profound and positive impacts on the most vulnerable: low-income mothers, women, parents, and children who experience family violence in this province. We commend the Province for taking steps to bring our legal system’s treatment of intimate partner violence more in line with recommendations 6B and 13A of the Stanton Report:
“Government must use an intersectional lens in policy development and service delivery. It must also take into account dramatic differences in services and policy considerations for urban centres as compared to rural, remote, and northern communities.... Unless we support survivors in all the areas they need help, they remain vulnerable...”
– Dr. Kim Stanton, p. 84 of the Stanton Report (2025)
The work continues — and you can help shape it
Better access to legal representation saves lives. CFE continues to be deeply engaged in this work. Through years of advocacy, our members have never stopped fighting for a system that meets their needs. We are grateful for their labour. And we remain committed to working alongside them for a family law legal aid system that is genuinely responsive to survivors’ lived realities and able to meet their complex legal needs with trauma-informed care — in every region of BC. We appreciate Legal Aid BC's continued engagement with us on these new services. In 2024, CFE collaborated with Legal Aid BC to carry out a community engagement to advise on this expansion of legal aid services.
We are continuing to engage survivors to ensure the lived experiences of those who receive the services are reflected in evaluation and systems-design. We are mobilizing the collective voice of survivors through our Legal Aid Lifeline project.
Our Survivors Shaping Services network community engagement is open
Our new Survivors Shaping Services network is now holding a community engagement on the effectiveness of the Family Law Centres and the expanded tariff hours for survivors. This engagement is now open to anyone who has accessed the centres or the extended 25 tariff hours. If you are eligible and interested in participating, you warmly invite you to apply now. If you know someone who has accessed Legal Aid BC's new Family Law Centres or the extended 25 hours of service hours since the services became available, please share this with them: all outreach materials are available here.
We are also building the Frontline Legal Aid Sector Roundtable to convene service organizations providing direct, on-the-ground support to those navigating BC's family law system. Through the roundtable, we will gather feedback about the impact, effectiveness and development of legal aid services in BC. The insights of those working closest to the need will be invaluable in shaping a system that is genuinely responsive. We invite you to express your interest in joining the roundtable here.