SPOTLIGHT ON GOOD WORKS

The Bella Coola Legal Advocacy Program (“BCLAP”) was founded in the Fall of 2008 by Anne Fletcher of the S.H.E.D. Society of Bella Coola.

The BCLAP provides Legal Advocacy services to the midCoast and Caribou communities of Bella Coola, Bella Bella, Klemtu, Wuikinuxv, and Anahim Lake.

Ms. Fletcher provides free and confidential legal advocacy services including information and referrals, summary advice and support, and full representation in all legal matters including housing (on and off Reserve); income/social assistance; debt; police accountability; human

Notary Foundation-funded BCLAP assistant legal advocate Elaine Hunt (L) and Public Interest law student Madeleine Northcote deplaning from Wilderness Seaplanes’ Goose on their return home to Bella Coola, arriving from Bella Bella

©iStockphoto.com/redfishweb

Mid-Coast map rights; disability; Indigenous legal issues; elder issues;, child protection; family, criminal, and legal aid; Wills/estates (on and off Reserve); EI, employment (on and off Reserve); and pensions.

The BCLAP began with funding from the Law Foundation of BC for the provision of services to Bella Coola (Nuxalk Nation) and Anahim Lake (Ulkatcho Nation) and is now a continuing program of the LFBC, recognizing the hugely disproportionate needs of those remote and primarily Indigenous communities. There are no other agencies, historically or currently, providing any legal services in this region of British Columbia.

The BCLAP promotes the rule of law by increasing understanding of the law and how the law ultimately seeks justice.

For mid-Coast Indigenous communities, understanding and appreciating how the law can benefit individuals is severely impeded by physical isolation,

Aerial view of Bella Coola

lack of education, overburdened circuit courts, rotating police forces, cultural differences in dispute resolution, and historical abuses in law, e.g., the appropriation of lands, the residential school system, and so on. This is borne out with a demonstrated reluctance to seek relief through the law and/or a serious under education regarding basic rights and responsibilities under the law. – Anne Fletcher

Two years into the BCLAP programming, the BCLAP began to receive regular project funding from The Notary Foundation of BC, funding that enabled the BCLAP services to grow to include the outer Coast communities of Bella Bella (Heiltsuk Nation), Klemtu (Kitasoo/Xais’xais), and Wuikinuxv (Wuikinuxv Nation), Indigenous communities accessible only by air or water.

As a result, Anne Fletcher and her colleagues have been able to deliver comprehensive public legal education activities (PLEAs) and advocacy services covering a wide range of topics under Employment Law, Elder Law, and Youth Law.

Currently, The Notary Foundation of BC has provided funding for the Indigenous Women’s Rights, Resources, and Reconciliation Project.

Credit: Shearwater Marine

The Clowhom Spirit is a charter boat to go between Bella Bella and Klemtu, a 2-hour trip

The Legal Advocate Anne Fletcher will partner with RISE Women’s Legal Centre, Program Lawyer Vicky Law in the organization, and delivery of workshops in Bella Coola, Bella Bella, and Klemtu covering the following. • Family Matters, including rights upon Separation and Divorce • Matrimonial Family Property

Rights on Reserve • Family Protection Orders • Sexual Harassment • Freedom from Discrimination/

Human Rights Protections • Access to Legal Services Society’s

Legal Aid services in family, child protection, and criminal matters.

The Bella Coola Legal Advocacy Program has been nationally recognized for its work. Alex Peel, Community Engagement Coordinator of the Legal Services Society, nominated founder Anne Fletcher for the Access to Justice All-Star Award. “The Legal Services Society (LSS) has had the privilege of working in partnership with Anne Fletcher and the Bella Coola Legal Advocacy Program for many years,” said Peel.

“Anne supports low-income British Columbians’ access to legal services in some of the most remote and hard-to-reach parts of BC. She is creative, passionate, and a lifeline to many people who might otherwise have no one to help them. She is a great asset to our program and to her community.”

The BCLAP’s supervising lawyer had, until her recent appointment to the BC Provincial Court Bench, been lawyer Anja Brown. “I have been Anne’s supervising lawyer since the legal advocacy program began,” said Brown. “Through Anne’s ongoing hard work and dedication, the program

Anne Fletcher in wheel plane over Bella Bella

has evolved to deliver legal advocacy to Bella Coola as well as neighbouring communities and has helped to fill the access-to-justice void. The recent recognition of Anne’s work by the National Self-Represented Litigant Project is very well deserved.”

The BCLAP is a Community Partner of the Legal Services Society of BC that supports the delivery of legal aid services and resources to those remote communities. The Law Foundation of Ontario (Access to Justice Fund) also has been a strong supporter of the work of the BCLAP, most recently with the BCLAP delivery of the 2-year Mid-Coast Indigenous Law Project, with presenter Anja Brown. s