Being close to nature helps us keep our balance. Then there’s the Gaspésie, which calls for adventure, making it easy and quick to let go, and being surrounded by such an enchanting environment, between the sea and the mountains, which is very pleasant. Legal aid practice is very intense but very rewarding. The legal aid lawyer in the regions is asked to be more versatile than in the city, to specialize less, but there’s something interesting about it, there’s an additional intellectual challenge.
I was born in Gaspésie in a small village called Cascapédia-Saint-Jules, very close to here, then I went to Carleton for high school and after that I left Gaspésie to study in Jonquière. Then I studied political science at Concordia University, and at the same time I started working for TVA and LCN in Montreal in 2001, but in 2010 I felt like taking on an additional challenge. So the idea of law came up pretty quickly and I resigned from my job as a correspondent for TVA, and enrolled at Laval University in law in 2010. It was an exciting course of study that I completed as quickly as possible because I had obligations. So I did my baccalaureate in 2 years and it was clear to me that I wanted to do litigation, I wanted to go to court. My family was wondering what to do, whether to stay in Quebec City or move, but I really wanted to come back and live in Gaspésie, it had been burning in my heart for several years already, but I was hoping that time would do its work, that Gaspésie would seduce my lover so that she would feel like moving, and that’s when I prepared a return to the region. I was in the process of evaluating all this when a position became available here at legal aid in New Richmond, so I quickly applied and was chosen. That’s how I came to the Gaspé Peninsula in May 2015 with my girlfriend and our 3 children, and we settled in Carleton, where I’ve been practicing ever since.
Practicing at legal aid is very intense because, obviously, you have a lot of cases and you have to be able to move quickly from one to the next. Basically, you’re always representing the individual in the face of institutions.
So I’m originally from the Gaspé Peninsula, Bonaventure to be precise. I grew up here and went to college in Gaspé, then left to study law at Laval University and passed the bar, I first worked in a very small private practice office there with a lawyer who is now retired, who gave me my first chance, and I spent several months there, I came back and I was offered a contract and I stayed there for 16 years, so my career as a lawyer took place there, mainly in youth protection, until I applied for a position with the Court of Quebec, where I was lucky enough to be appointed. I’ve been a judge of the Court of Quebec in the criminal and penal divisions, as well as in the youth division, for 11 years.
Working for legal aid in the regions compared to working for legal aid in the major centers, there are certainly a lot of similarities, it’s the same system, it’s the same law on legal aid, but in the regions you have to be a little more versatile because in the major centers you have a team assigned to youth protection, a team in family law, a team in different areas of the law, whereas Ben I do 4 areas of the law, which adds a nice challenge for me, because I enjoy learning all the time. Another difference is that it’s a small environment, so we’re going to come into contact with our clients, and so there’s this issue that’s not an obstacle to anything.
The fact of being in a small region with very often the same judges the same lawyers on the other side, where in the region, there’s a legal aid lawyer who’s in a lot of cases that very often represent children we very often have the same interlocutor the defense lawyers who take on youth protection mandates too there aren’t that many of them so we know each other
I know that in Eastern Quebec we have a great deal of professional autonomy, so I don’t know to what extent that is the case elsewhere, but here I do what I want in my cases with my client. As for cooperation between lawyers in the regions, it’s excellent and has no choice but to be excellent, because in the end there aren’t very many lawyers who do litigation, so we’ll be seeing each other case after case after case
The Bâtonnière of the Province of Quebec is the president of the bar association. The Quebec Bar is divided into 15 sections, each with its own bâtonnier, I studied law first at Laval University and then at my bar school in Quebec City. The advantage of working in the regions is that it’s a real brotherhood, and when I mix with my colleagues in the regions, I really see a complicity, a teasing, and even he calls it that, if we have close social relations, that’s going to ensure that our case is handled better, and even our client will be better represented, because we don’t have a vindictive attitude for nothing. The attitude we all need to have is to try to support our client in resolving his problem objectively and serenely.
It seems easy to find solutions, there’s a really nice atmosphere at the courthouse too, and it’s interesting because it’s a place where there’s litigation, so it’s confrontation in court.
There are special aspects to practicing in the regions. The fact that I practice at the Court of Québec in 2 chambers means that there are people I see, litigants I see in both the Youth Division and the Criminal Division. In any case, when you become a judge, you have reserve obligations, you have ethical obligations that mean you have to behave in a particular way, whether or not people know you’re a judge, but some do, so you always have to keep that in mind.
And another thing that’s fundamental is that the difference, because the law is the law, is that I can go to a court of appeal from the district of Bonaventure in the same way as if I were in Quebec City or Montreal, we apply the same law, so what’s different is the environment: here, when I leave home and go to the courthouse in New Carlisle, it’s a 1-hour drive, but I do it on my motorcycle, 6 months a year, and there, Ben, I have the smells depending on the season, then I have the sea, then I have all this magnificent environment, and I have the impression that it does me good
As for access to justice in Gaspésie for those with limited resources, thanks to legal aid, it’s good that they have access to a service in French or English, and when we have a conflict of interest here at the legal aid office, we can give mandates to lawyers in the private sector who take on such mandates.
It’s important for us at the Quebec Bar to ensure that all Quebec citizens can receive legal services from our members. Unfortunately, in some more remote regions, there aren’t enough lawyers to provide these services. It’s an issue, it’s a concern, and in situations where it’s flagrant, I’ll give you the example of the Gaspé Peninsula, where there’s a shortage of lawyers as we speak, but there’s also a rather dramatic situation in which, in certain areas of law, there isn’t a single lawyer who can represent a client eligible for legal aid.
Where we have a difficulty is in finding lawyers in private practice who agree to practice in English on a legal aid mandate, and this affects quite a few people because we have English-speaking communities in the Adventure District, many of whom speak to us in New Richmond, so I often have parties who are unrepresented on my side, and if people don’t have access to the law, if they don’t have lawyers who explain their rights to them and the rights of the opposing party, they’ll settle their dispute between themselves, and maybe not always in as civilized a manner as we’d like or could, thanks to the justice system. maybe not always as civilized as we’d like or as we could here, thanks to the justice system.
Here the particularities are the aboriginal reality where in the district of Bonaventure there is a significant aboriginal population that is unfortunately, as is the case elsewhere in Canada, over-represented before the courts, but the fact remains that for people who are eligible for legal aid it is sometimes very difficult in our region to find a lawyer because there aren’t that many lawyers and the small pool of lawyers means that very often lawyers won’t be able to act in a case because of a conflict of interest.
The few lawyers is linked to access to justice. Obviously, public confidence in the judicial system is paramount. expectations or a lack of understanding of the procedure or the rules, which makes for a more frustrating experience. As for fairness, I’m confident that when the person is unrepresented, judges will have a role that’s adapted to the situation, people have time to talk to each other to make themselves heard the delays here are really not outrageous it’s certain that they would always benefit from legal representation there, in terms of preparation in terms of strategy in terms of understanding in terms of expectations in terms of the ability to negotiate these are all things that a lawyer can bring to the table
How could we encourage our young graduates, our young people in school, to try to do their articling in the regions or start their practice in the regions, I think it’s important for all our graduates to realize that everywhere in Quebec, litigants have the right to be accompanied when they have a legal problem, to be accompanied in court, in mediation or whatever. We can’t know right away what we’re going to like best until we’ve tried it out in the field in the last year I’d like our year 23 24 It’s one of our strategic priorities to tackle this problem head on, so I’d say we’re working together, There’s a fairly specific action plan underway to find all sorts of ways to attract more and more young people to come and practice in the regions, so that our students don’t just do their internships in the big regions like Quebec Sherbrooke Montreal, but also in the smaller regions, so that’s something we’re encouraging them to do.
I really feel here and I’d tell you that it’s a very strong local culture that I see over time where lawyers with more experience try to make life easier for newcomers and then in the end Ben it contributes to them enjoying their practices ideally which remains know me what I see with happiness that there are young lawyers who come back to the region I am, I practice in a region where the local bar is quite young, and it’s very stimulating. I’m firmly convinced that it’s a very interesting practice for a young lawyer, and I strongly encourage them to come and establish themselves, both for the professional aspect, where it can be a diversified practice with colleagues you get to know, with good collaboration and bonds of trust that are established, and also for the quality of life, where life in the region, there are some very interesting aspects that have an impact on professional life it’s perhaps easier to be in a good mood and in shape for the day’s work
What I could say to them to encourage them to go is to say don’t hesitate and dive in – it’s 2024 – this generation – the ones coming out of school in the next few years – is open-minded and doesn’t necessarily want to embark on a lifelong career. coming out of school in the next few years are generations who are open-minded and who don’t necessarily want to embark on a lifelong career, so take advantage of this to say, “Why not? precisely to have the diversity of areas of law in which I could work if that’s not it Ben you do 2 or 3 years then you come back but you have to dare to try it then you also have to bear in mind that the quality of life in the regions is often much better than in the city you’re master of your own life why not make various attempts to see what you like
