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FEATURE Melamed says. Howie agrees, adding that the amicus has a duty only to the court and not to any liti- gant. Clearly, the Court of Appeal wanted to reiterate that an amicus does not take the role of counsel for any party, he says. However, the ruling doesn't preclude family law from getting amicus, the use of which can be a reasonable thing in some cases, but it has to be for the correct purpose and not a way to replace legal aid by assisting the self-rep- resented or as a substitute for paying for law- yers, Melamed says. Those issues don't mean the court "should, or has the power to, appoint someone as amicus for that case." Amicus curiae is used when there is a true need to help the court move the case forward, as a litigant cannot advance their case. Choos- ing to appear in court unrepresented or run- ning out of money and being unable to con- tinue paying or hire a lawyer doesn't mean in and of itself that a litigant can't move a case forward — that's not an amicus role per se, Melamed says. "I think the court of appeal, from an am- icus point of view, got it right," he says. "Just because they're unrepresented or partway through the trial they're going to be misrep- resented, and it might feel uncomfortable or hard for you as the judge, [but] that's not re- ally the point of amicus. A lot of family law matters are now with unrepresented parties, FOCUS ON FAMILY LAW and if this licence were given whenever there was a difficult case or a difficult person to ap- point counsel to help the court, it's a replace- ment for legal aid, which isn't something the province would want to do I presume." The Supreme Court of Canada established what an amicus is and when an amicus should be appointed back in 2013, in Ontario v. Criminal Lawyers' Association of Ontar- io — but in the context of a criminal case in which the liberty of the accused is at stake, Howie points out. While the appeal court did not create any new law with regard to the role of an amic- us, he says the case is unique in that the trial judge appointed an amicus in the context of 20 www.lawtimesnews.com