When a child is denied access to school, or an ailing person is shut out of a hospital, the media are quick to expose the injustice. Denial of health care or an education is unthinkable for most Canadians, yet access to justice, particularly for non-criminal issues, is out of reach for millions in this country, and for billions of people worldwide. Despite the vital need of legal assistance to protect human rights, its absence is rarely remarked upon, its inaccessibility considered merely regrettable.