Archives: Grants (page 23)

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.

TBMA will operate its Newcomer Legal Clinic, which connects community members in and around Thunder Bay to free immigration and refugee law services. Partners include the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. TBMA aims to fill a gap in free immigration and refugee services in Northwestern Ontario.

The University of Toronto Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work will continue its work to develop an online toolkit that will synthesize the legislation, case law, and evidence-based social science research on child protection and its effects on families involved in the child welfare system. The toolkit will be designed to be used by lawyers, social workers, and others working in child protection with the goal of leading to more informed decision-making and court orders with a stronger evidentiary basis.

The University of Windsor, Faculty of Law, in partnership with The Empowerment Council (a nonprofit organization that acts as a voice for mental health and addiction service users at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto) will establish a student legal clinic that addresses the complex, intersectional legal needs of mental health and addiction service users. The first of its kind in Canada, over three years the clinic will conduct a needs assessment, develop public legal education materials, and provide CAMH patients with legal information, support, and referrals.

Wilfrid Laurier University's Centre for Research on Security Practices (WLU) will conduct an in-depth mixed methods qualitative case study to examine the experiences of migrants with precarious status seeking legal assistance in rural Southern Ontario (including farm workers, temporary workers, refugee claimants, international students, and people without immigration status). WLU will document the ways in which this community accesses legal services and its impact on their everyday lives. This study will benefit migrants with precarious status and will provide empirical insights for the clinics of rural Southern Ontario that can inform more effective service provision.