Archives: Grants (page 11)

Sanctuary Students Solidarity & Support Collective (S4) will conduct a policy and literature review and complete a needs assessment with the S4 community. With the aid of sanctuary students who wish to participate, S4 will develop trauma-informed workshops and toolkits around access to education in Ontario at the elementary, secondary, and post-secondary level for students facing precarious immigration status.

Angels of Hope Against Human Trafficking (AOH) will develop a series of free, five-minute legal education videos (in English and French) for survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence (GBV). This project will be an extension of a legal booklet AOH published in February 2025 with funding from the Department of Justice and legal oversight provided by the Assistant Crown Attorney’s Office and Greater Sudbury Police Service. Topics will include reporting instances of GBV and human trafficking, pursuing legal action against perpetrators of violence, survivors’ rights and the law, and what the court process entails.

University of Western Ontario’s Community Legal Services (CLS), a Student Legal Services Organization (SLSO), will launch its Western Law Family Court Assistance Program (CAP), a pilot project developed in partnership with the Children’s Aid Society (CAS). The program will support unrepresented parents in family matters that involve CAS and Family Court in the London Middlesex community. CAP will provide support at the downtown London courthouse, including public legal education, free in-person legal information, summary advice, unbundled advocacy services and help completing legal forms, and meaningful referrals, with multilingual support.

Legal Advocates for Nature's Defence (LAND) will develop culturally appropriate legal education resources and deliver in-community trainings on environmental and Indigenous rights in northern Ontario. With guidance from an Indigenous Advisory Circle, LAND will create legal education resources translated into English and Cree, develop an intake service for summary legal advice, and host community gatherings to provide legal training and summary advice. This project will strengthen Indigenous community members’ knowledge of their rights and their ability to participate in consultations and decision-making about their lands, waters, and Treaty rights.

The University of Windsor, Faculty of Law will continue to expand their Health Justice Clinic (HJC). HJC is a student-delivered and lawyer-supervised clinic established in partnership with the Empowerment Council (EC), a nonprofit that acts as a voice for the collective community of mental health and addiction service users primarily in the Toronto area and at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. HJC will continue to provide public legal education and legal services to clients of the EC around immigration and refugee law as well as housing law.

The Unemployed Help Centre Windsor will combine a systematic literature review with a quantitative needs assessment to map legal-literacy gaps and workplace vulnerabilities among newcomers, low-income residents, youth, and gig-economy workers in the Windsor–Essex region. Guided by local partners and rigorous mixed methods, the Unemployed Help Centre Windsor will pinpoint priority topics and inform the development of a targeted legal-literacy and employment-access initiative tailored to Windsor’s most vulnerable populations.

Peace for All Canada (PAC) will provide legal information and pro bono legal advice to individuals experiencing homelessness in the Waterloo Region. PAC will train Community Justice Helpers to distribute public legal education materials and access online legal resources at partner community sites. Community Justice Helpers will also connect individuals with a roster of pro bono lawyers for legal advice. This initiative will support the growing population of people experiecing homelessness in the Waterloo Region to understand legal processes and language, access legal services, and resolve legal issues before they escalate.

Lakehead University’s Office of Research will explore how laws, policies, and practices (including those of child welfare and related systems) affect the ways in which Violence Against Women (VAW) shelters respond when mothers who use substances flee with their children. The project aims to reduce barriers and improve access to justice for all women and children fleeing intimate partner violence, with particular attention to those affected by substance use. The project will consist of a literature review, environmental scan, and a survey of Canadian VAW shelters.

Ontario Nature will collaborate with Indigenous communities, forestry companies, and local organizations to identify effective legal pathways for protecting Designated Conservation Lands located within Ontario’s Forest Stewardship Council certified forests. Each year, the project will engage with forest management units to develop tailored protection strategies that reflect community and regional priorities. These efforts support broader conservation goals, including contributing to Canada’s target of protecting 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030.

Kinbrace Community Society will improve and maintain its My Refugee Claim initiative. It provides accessible, multilingual, public legal education resources, including Ready Tours, that help refugee claimants understand the refugee protection system and prepare for their refugee hearings.