SUPPORTERS LOBBY TO KEEP SUBURBAN COURTS OPEN

Torontonians can save provincial courthouses in Scarborough and North York whose closures will displace hundreds of employees and make it harder for lowerincome people to access justice, supporters of keeping the buildings say.

Toronto City Council is expected to vote on a motion later this month asking Ontario's Progressive Conservative government not to close 1000 Finch Ave. W. and 1911 Eglinton Ave. E., at least for now.

The province is set to move those courts, and others downtown, within weeks into a new mega courthouse which opened March 6 near City Hall.

It has already turned another

North York courthouse, 2201 Finch Ave. W., into a regional adult bail court centre. Although technically in North York, supporters of suburban courthouses call it the "Etobicoke courthouse."

Lawyers, city councillors, unions and community advocates aren't giving up their years-long fight to persuade Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General consolidating suburban courts downtown is wrong.

"It's not too late," says Betty Vavougios, president of the Ontario Crown Attorneys' Association.

"All the buildings are still standing."

In interviews, Vavougios and other critics of the province's plan said space in the new 17-storey courthouse at 10 Armoury St. is