Twenty-five years of appellate duty counsel.

Why the program exists

Defence counsel noticed a pattern: incarcerated people — very often the most disadvantaged appellants in the system — were arguing complex criminal appeals with no help preparing them and no one to speak for them in court. The pilot that followed in 1999 was built to close that gap, and it has carried the support of the Ministry of the Attorney General and the Court of Appeal for Ontario ever since.

The program was formerly known as the Ontario Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program. The name changed; the work did not.

How the roster works

Roughly forty lawyers, all with appellate experience, volunteer their time as duty counsel. Between them they cover twelve days of sittings in Kingston, six days of video-conference sittings in Toronto on the alternating months, and twenty-two days a year of Toronto sittings.

The co-ordinator

Since 2013 the program has had a full-time paralegal co-ordinator. That role is the single point of contact for incarcerated appellants and the person who keeps a file moving — liaising with duty counsel, Legal Aid Ontario, the Crown Law Office (Criminal) and the Court of Appeal so an appeal is dealt with in reasonable time.

If someone you know is appealing

The clock is short. A notice of appeal is normally due within thirty days of conviction or sentence; after that, an extension of time must be requested and the delay explained.

Two things help enormously, and both are easy to miss:

• Ask the appellant to have our telephone number added to their institutional access PIN as soon as possible.
• Have them open an application with Legal Aid Ontario. Legal Aid funding for a trial does not extend to the appeal — it is a separate application.

Contact the co-ordinator