Members from all four of the province’s criminal defence lawyer associations walked out of court in Calgary on Monday, in an ongoing dispute with the province over Legal Aid funding.

The protest was yet another escalation in a month that has seen the lawyers make continued demands for what they say is fair compensation for Alberta legal aid cases.

“We’re here today because we’ve been asking the Government of Alberta to properly fund the Legal Aid plan, so that all vulnerable Albertans that need the assistance of a lawyer can get that assistance, and that will be can be properly funded to properly defend them,” said Kelsey Sitar, a vice president with the Calgary Criminal Defence Lawyers Association (CDLA).

“Because right now, the funding and the tariffs that’s in place doesn’t allow for that to happen.”

Job action is being taken by members of the CDLA, the Edmonton Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, the Red Deer Criminal Defence Lawyers Association and the Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers’ Association. Sitar said the actions were unprecedented in Alberta’s history.

“It’s never happened in this province before, and I don’t know that we’ve ever even had defence lawyers organized enough to stop taking Legal Aid files of any kind,” she said.

LiveWire Calgary reached out to Minister of Justice Tyler Shandro for comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.