Legal Aid BC is funded primarily by the Province of British Columbia, providing approximately 93% of the Society's annual budget.[{{cite web|title=Legal Services Society Financial Information Statements|url=http://www.lss.bc.ca/assets/aboutUs/reports/financialInformationStatements.pdf|accessdate=21 December 2011}}] The provincial Law and Notary Foundations together provide the remaining seven percent. Provincial funding and, subsequently, Legal Aid services in the province have diminished for close to two decades.[{{cite book|last=Brewin|first=Alison|title=Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding BC's Broken System|year=2010|publisher=Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives|page=4}}] Approximately 40% of the one-time budget has been cut, equating to nearly 50 million dollars.[{{cite web|last=Cordery|first=Walter|title=Trial lawyers plan rally to demand legal aid funding|url=http://www.canada.com/Trial+lawyers+plan+rally+demand+legal+funding/5788496/story.html}}][{{cite web|title=Legal aid crisis needs attention|url=http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20111205/KAMLOOPS0302/111209949/-1/kamloops/legal-aid-crisis-needs-attention|accessdate=21 December 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120906150647/http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20111205/KAMLOOPS0302/111209949/-1/kamloops/legal-aid-crisis-needs-attention|archive-date=6 September 2012|url-status=dead}}] The largest decline in this funding came in 2002, when it was reduced by close to 30 million dollars.[{{cite web|last=Seto|first=Nancy|title=Reasonable Doubt: A call to arms on legal aid funding in B.C.|url=https://www.straight.com/article-549811/vancouver/reasonable-doubt-call-arms-legal-aid-funding-bc|accessdate=21 December 2011}}] The Province of British Columbia ranks third lowest in Canada in per capital legal aid spending.[{{cite book|last=Brewin|first=Alison|title=Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding BC's Broken System|year=2010|publisher=Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives|page=4}}]
The funding reductions have had major impacts on many aspects of the Legal Services Society and legal aid in the province. In the 1990s, BC had one of the most comprehensive legal aid programs in Canada, but government funding would become insufficient to support such a program.[{{cite web|last=Doust|first=Leonard T.|title=The Public Commission on Legal Aid in British Columbia|url=http://www.publiccommission.org/media/PDF/pcla_report_03_08_11.pdf}}] By 2010, 50 Regional Offices closed throughout the province, leaving only two.[{{cite web|last=Cordery|first=Walter|title=Trial lawyers plan rally to demand legal aid funding|url=http://www.canada.com/Trial+lawyers+plan+rally+demand+legal+funding/5788496/story.html}}] Currently, in areas without a Regional Office, the Legal Services Society relies on the Province's courthouses and the private law offices of lawyers and solicitors to liaise with potential clients about the legal aid services available to them.[{{cite web|title=Where to find legal aid services|url=http://www.lss.bc.ca/legal_aid/legalAidOffices.php}}] Another result of the funding cuts has been a 40% lay-off rate of the Society's support staff.[{{cite web|last=Hainsworth|first=Jeremy|title=BC law society to help struggling legal aid system find money|url=http://www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=1343}}] Furthermore, "[the] number of legal aid cases approved for legal representation declined dramatically between 2001 and 2010: the number of family law cases approved dropped from 15,526 to 6,270 and poverty law referrals went from 40,279 to 0 (legal representation for poverty law – housing, welfare, disability pensions, debt – has been eliminated)."[{{cite book|last=Brewin|first=Alison|title=Rights-Based Legal Aid: Rebuilding BC's Broken System|year=2010|publisher=Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives|page=4}}] At a broader level, this decline in Provincial funding "has contributed to the court system being overwhelmed and cases being thrown out."[{{cite web|title=We Need Legal Aid|url=http://www.weneedlegalaid.com/thechallenge/}}]
In March 2011, the Public Commission on Legal Aid in British Columbia was released. In it, "[the] overwhelming majority of [public and private] submissions spoke to the general failure of our legal aid system, the negative repercussions for needy individuals and families, and the consequent adverse impact on our communities and justice system."[{{cite web|last=Doust|first=Leonard T.|title=The Public Commission on Legal Aid in British Columbia|url=http://www.publiccommission.org/media/PDF/pcla_report_03_08_11.pdf}}] The Commission went on to recommend, among other things, an increase in long-term, stable funding to the LSS, as well as an official recognition of legal aid as an essential public service. In November 2011, Robert J. Bauman, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, stated that the province's judicial system "is threatened, if not in peril.... Inadequate funding of courts [including legal aid] in British Columbia has been the reality for the last number of years. We are not at the tipping point yet- but we are steadily edging towards it."[{{cite web|last=Bauman|first=Robert J.|title=CHALLENGES TO THE BUDGET FOR THE COURT SERVICES BRANCH|url=http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/supreme_court/about_the_supreme_court/speeches/Challenges%20to%20the%20Budget%20for%20Court%20Services%20Branch-%20CBA-BC%20Las%20Vegas%20meeting.pdf}}]
According to a 2008 Ipsos Reid poll, public support for legal aid in British Columbia remains very high, with 93% of respondents saying they support these services.[{{cite web|title=Ipsos Reid – Legal Aid in BC|url=http://www.lss.bc.ca/assets/aboutUs/reports/legalAid/legalAidPollReport08.pdf}}]
The legal community in British Columbia strongly supports legal aid services and continues to protest the funding reductions. On November 30, 2011, the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia held a Rally in Ribbons and Robes, a province-wide protest on the steps of regional and provincial courthouses to raise awareness about the state of legal aid in British Columbia. The Association carried out job-action protests from January to April, 2012. The primary component of the job-action impacted the duty counsel services outlined above; these services were withheld for one week in January 2012, two weeks in February, three weeks in March, and throughout all of April.[{{cite web|title=Lawyers up the ante in battle for legal-aid money|url=https://vancouversun.com/news/Lawyers+ante+battle+more+legal+money/5788303/story.html|accessdate=21 December 2011}}]
On December 30, 2011, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of British Columbia, the Honourable Shirley Bond, announced an augmentation of LSS funding, by $2.1 million annually.[{{cite web|last=Benton, QC|first=Mark|title=Legal Aid BC Update – January 2012|url=http://www.lss.bc.ca/assets/media/legalAidUpdates/legalAidUpdateJan2012.pdf|publisher=Legal Services Society|accessdate=May 19, 2012}}] This announcement was received positively by the LSS.[{{cite web|last=Benton, QC|first=Mark|title=Legal Aid BC Update – January 2012|url=http://www.lss.bc.ca/assets/media/legalAidUpdates/legalAidUpdateJan2012.pdf|publisher=Legal Services Society|accessdate=May 19, 2012}}]