Archives: Grants (page 16)

The Korean Legal Clinic will hold culturally and linguistically appropriate pro bono summary advice clinics in refugee and immigration law at partner Korean-Canadian organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. The Clinic will also develop two legal information toolkits in Korean. One toolkit will assist individuals to respond to anti-Asian racism and the second toolkit will include information on family, immigration, and housing laws. The project aims to assist recently arrived Koreans that have little to no English language proficiency and a limited understanding of the Canadian legal system.

Law Commission of Ontario's (LCO) Indigenous Environmental Accountability Project will consider how First Nation, Métis, and Inuit laws and legal orders inform environment accountability in Ontario, including the provincial Environmental Bill of Rights. This project is part of the LCO's broader Environmental Accountability Project.

The National Associations Active in Criminal Justice will create, disseminate, and make freely available 14 bilingual plain-language information sheets that outline the employment-related protections provided to people with criminal records in the various Canadian jurisdictions. The objective of the project is to help people with criminal records and service providers in the community to learn about these rights and be aware of protections and grounds for discrimination in Canadian jurisdictions as they relate to employment.

Ontario Nonprofit Network, and its partner Community Legal Education Ontario, will strive to meet the legal needs of Ontario nonprofits led by and serving communities facing barriers to accessing justice (i.e. public benefit nonprofits) through a systemic approach to public legal education and information. The emphasis of this project will be supporting the implementation of the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, and conducting a legal needs assessment of Ontario’s nonprofit sector. This project will benefit Ontario’s nonprofit organizations.

Parry Sound Friendship Centre will develop a a Restorative Justice Program in Parry Sound District and Bracebridge, applying Indigenous legal principles to support community healing. The program will support pre and post charge programming and activities for Indigenous people who have been diverted from the mainstream criminal justice system.

Peacebuilders International (Canada) will conduct research on the viability of using Impact of Race and Culture Assessments (IRCAs) in youth court and school disciplinary hearings. IRCAs are pre-sentencing reports that explain how the offender’s lived experiences of racism and discrimination inform the circumstances of the offender, the offence committed, and the offender’s experience with the justice system. Peacebuilders will share the research results with policymakers, education and justice professionals, community service providers, and youth-serving organizations. Peacebuilders aims to advance conversations around how IRCAs can be leveraged to address the overincarceration of Black and other racialized youth.

Pro Bono Ontario and the National Self-Represented Litigants Project will conduct research on how end users want and need to access legal services. The purpose of the project is to collect, analyze, and share information that will improve coordination and collaboration between justice system providers in Ontario and thereby improve outcomes for low-income Ontarians who depend on pro bono and legal aid programs to address their unmet legal needs.

Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region (SASC) will deliver its Sexual Assault Legal Advocate Program, which connects survivors of sexual violence to system navigation, referrals, and court accompaniment support. SASC will also develop accessible, online resources on topics such as victims’ rights, the process for obtaining a peace bond, civil litigation, key roles within the criminal justice system, and publication bans. This initiative will benefit survivors in the Waterloo region. SASC aims to increase survivors' access to legal information and timely system navigation support.

The Survivors’ Secretariat will offer Six Nations community members a systems navigator resource to support individuals interviewed by the Police Task Force investigating the deaths of children at the Mohawk Institute. The navigator will explain the interview process and privacy considerations, provide progress updates, and coordinate referrals to survivor-specific services. The Secretariat aims to connect survivors and families to trauma-informed and culturally competent support as they navigate the Task Force’s investigation process.

Black Law Students’ Association of Canada (BLSA Canada) will host its annual conference benefiting Black law students from across the country. BLSA Canada aims to foster connections between Black law students and legal professionals to promote professional development, legal education, and cultural awareness within the legal sector.