Only Nunavik-based legal aid lawyer now based outside region

The legal aid organization that serves Nunavik has hired a new lawyer to oversee Kuujjuaq and the Ungava coast, though that position will be based outside of the region.

The legal aid office in Kuujjuaq has long been staffed by a full-time, local lawyer, until the last permanent lawyer left the role in March.

The Centre communautaire juridique Abitibi-Témiscamingue announced last month that it would be temporarily closing its Kuujjuaq office until a new lawyer was hired.

A new lawyer has since come on board, Isabelle Martineau, though she will be based in Val d’Or and travel to Kuujjuaq and communities along the Ungava coast with the circuit court.

“Two weeks of the month, she will be in Kuujjuaq. It’s the best we can do for now,” said Natalie Samson, director of the legal aid centre. “We are working with the Commission des service juridiques to find a solution to allow us to have a lawyer there almost all the time.”

The legal services commission Samson referred to is the public body responsible for applying Quebec’s law respecting legal aid and ensuring all citizens have access to that service.

Residents of Kuujjuaq can always reach legal aid services by telephone, Samson noted. Nunavik’s other communities are largely served by legal aid lawyers who are based in southern Quebec, but travel to Nunavik as part of the circuit court.

Samson said it’s a challenge to fill that position in Kuujjuaq, and when the organization does, she said lawyers don’t often stay long in the region. Samson said she would prefer to have a Val d’Or-based lawyer who stays on the job for several years and has the time to become familiar with their files and clients.

Samson said the organization had been trying to hire a new Kuujjuaq-based legal secretary for over a year, until they decided to move the position to its Val d’Or office.

The shift away from offering permanently local legal aid support comes as the only Nunavik-based Crown prosecutor relocated outside the region last year.

Residents of Kuujjuaq can visit the new legal aid lawyer, Isabelle Martineau, in person this week in Kuujjuaq’s office, by telephone at (819) 964-2333 or by email at imartineau@ccjat.qc.ca.