Shelagh Day and Gwen Brodsky have authored a study entitled: Women and the Canada Social Transfer:
Securing the Social Union (in PDF) and (website). The report explains how social assistance and legal aid have been in decline in Canada for the past decade and how this has had devastating effects on poor women. The report calls for national standards, federal legislation, and new mechanisms to rescue the social union and to meet Canada's human rights obligations.

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned a lower court decision to scrap the provincial tax on legal fees in BC. Dugald Christie, a lawyer who helped found the Western Canada Society to Access Justice had argued that the tax discriminates against poor clients by making it harder for them to afford legal counsel. He was killed by a vehicle while riding his bike across Canada to publicize the campaign to make justice more accessible to people living in poverty. Read a CBC article about the court decision, "Top court overturns decision to scrap tax on legal fees" and Dugald Christie's blog.

The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada is taking the federal government to court over the government's decision to cut the court challenges program. The program set aside money for groups who wanted to challenge government decisions that affected their rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Read a CBC article on the cut to the court challenge program.