There are no legal aid lawyers working in Montreal, Laval, Laurentians, Lanaudière, Bas-Saint-Laurent, and Gaspésie on Tuesday morning. The lawyers, who are part of unions affiliated with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), are on a half-day strike. They are expected to return to work at 1:30 PM. The unions represent about half of the 400 legal aid lawyers across the province.

They have set up picket lines in front of legal aid offices in their areas, and by lunchtime, they are expected to meet at local courts to demonstrate.

The lawyers have been without a collective agreement since December 31, 2019, and they are protesting the Treasury Board’s refusal to maintain pay equity with crown attorneys.

The previous collective agreement had approved this equity, so the lawyers say they do not understand this change.

An independent committee recommends salary conditions for prosecutors who received a 10 percent increase over four years.

Quebec offered legal aid lawyers the same increase as public service - six percent over three years.

Justine Lambert-Poulain, president of the Montreal and Laval Legal Aid Lawyers Union, points out that her members deal with many cases the government considers high priority, such as youth rights, spousal claims, and sexual violence.

Lambert-Poulain believes it is time for Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette to intervene as Treasury Board president Sonia LeBel has not moved.

She argues that legal aid lawyers raise "the same issues before the same courts and the same judges as crown prosecutors." The union says that LeBel and Jolin-Barrette, both lawyers, have already spoken in favor of pay equity between legal aid lawyers and crown attorneys in the past.

Members of the CSN union unanimously voted in favor of a three-day strike mandate. Since they are not subject to the essential services law, cases scheduled to proceed on Tuesday morning were suspended and mostly postponed to the afternoon.