Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today the Minister of Justice will have the pleasure of receiving my questions regarding my concerns with legal aid access when it comes to family law issues. Mr. Speaker, concerns have been brought forward to me by someone in my riding.
I've only recently learned that in fact if you are a person accused of a crime, you have the appointment of a lawyer immediately. However, Mr. Speaker, if you're a mother of two who is desperately struggling to put milk and butter on the table and attempting to get legal custody of your children and you need to make an application in order to get financial support, to request legal aid assistance you have to wait three to six months for your first appointment to start dealing with this tormented circumstance. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Justice is does the Minister believe, in his opinion, that a three to six-month waiting period is reasonable access to justice for a first appointment to discuss this family law issue with a lawyer?