Legal Aid boycott resolved

The eight-month long Legal Aid boycott in Ontario has ended.

A deal struck Sunday night will provide an additional $80 million for defence lawyers who take on Legal Aid cases. Here in Thunder Bay, the agreement is expected to allow four murder cases to proceed through the courts.

The local murder cases have been put on hold while members of the Criminal Lawyers Association refused to accept murder and gang-related cases because of the rates paid through Legal Aid Ontario.

Those cases include murder suspects Harold Barr and Eric Lindstrom. They were charged with second-degree murder for separate offences last year. Another case involves Michael Kelly, who was charged with first-degree murder in October.

The fourth murder suspect is 19-year-old Leif Hobson. Local lawyer George Joseph applied to the court to be paid double the Legal Aid rate for Hobson's case, and had been waiting for a decision.

Under the new deal, defence attorneys will receive a 40 per cent increase on the hourly rates over the next seven years, with additional increases for murder cases.

The deal will take affect on Feb. 1.