Improving access to primary law in Ontario, with a focus on family court decisions
Canadian Legal Information Institute will improve access to legal information pertaining to family law for Ontarians by scanning and loading the decisions from the Reports of Family Law onto their website. This project will ensure that the core primary law and most important court decisions for this practice area from the last 48 years will become readily available to Ontarians without subscription to or purchase of research materials.
$ 26,240
September 19, 2019
Mental Health Laws and Advocacy Course Development
The Community Law School will develop a Mental Health Laws and Advocacy course for inclusion in the Certificate in Community Advocacy Program that will encompass five crucial legal issues/processes and four governing statutes impacting people dealing with mental health issues. This grant will benefit trusted intermediaries, as well as friends, family, and other people supporting those dealing with mental health issues. The objective of the project is to empower people supporting individuals with mental health issues to understand and better navigate legal processes.
$ 37,400
September 19, 2019
Access to Opportunities: Legal Education Project for Refugee Women
Council of Agencies Serving South Asians will provide legal education in the City of Toronto and London, Ontario to benefit refugee women. The objective of the project is to disseminate up-to-date, customized legal information related to childcare, housing, employment, education, healthcare including maternal and sexual health by bringing lawyers and refugee women together in education forums and by developing and disseminating legal toolkits in many languages spoken by refugees.
$ 62,600
September 19, 2019
Jail Accountability & Information Line (Phase 2)
The Jail Accountability & Information Line aims to develop its capacity to offer prisoners and their families legal information and connections to legal services in an effort to improve conditions of confinement at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. Partnerships will be developed among the Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Community Legal Education Ontario, and Legal Aid Ontario. With the assistance of two part-time coordinators, up to eight undergraduate social sciences students will be partnered with up to eight law students to participate in call intake and resolution work.
$ 69,135
September 19, 2019
ID Bank
Keewaytinok Native Legal Services will develop an ID Bank in Moosonee with satellite offices in Moose Factory, providing services all along the James Bay coast to some of Ontario's most remote communities, such as Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, and Peawanuck. The project will help clients to get or replace essential ID documents as well as provide storage of ID documents. The objective is to ensure residents in the area are able to get essential ID, have it stored in a safe space, and ensure that their basic legal needs are met with required documentation.
$ 100,000
September 19, 2019
RHP Video Project Pilot Project - Kitchener and Windsor Chapters
Matthew House will pilot an expansion of its Refugee Hearing Program (RHP) by creating an RHP chapter in the Kitchener-Waterloo area that uses video-conferencing to provide legal education to local refugee claimants. This innovative program helps claimants prepare for their hearings by providing them with an understanding of what to expect in their hearing. The preparation allows them better represent themselves at the hearing and receiving a more objective and fair outcome.
$ 106,476
September 19, 2019
Legal Education to Ensure Migrant Workers' Access to Open Permits and Permanent Residency
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change will conduct outreach and legal education for migrant workers, agricultural workers, and their support organizations in rural Ontario in order to support them in accessing new work permit and permanent residence immigration programs.
$ 43,700
September 19, 2019
Sentencing Parole Project
The Sentencing and Parole Project will develop, launch, and evaluate an initiative that seeks to address the mistreatment and misunderstanding of Black offenders in criminal sentencing and parole. The primary activity is the professional preparation of in-depth Impact of Race and Culture Assessments that provide comprehensive insight into how an individual's experiences with racism and socio-economic disadvantage in their community may have contributed to their conduct, choices, and current or past contact with the criminal justice system. The reports provide context for judges to craft unique sentences that are just to the offender, and for parole boards to ensure offenders have access to resources and help that is attuned to their concerns.
$ 150,000
September 19, 2019
Class Action Clinic (Start-Up Fund)
University of Windsor will establish a Class Action Clinic, a legal resource and services clinic focused on the needs of class action class members, with a mandate to provide public legal education and services to class members so that they may better understand and exercise their rights.
$ 99,990
September 19, 2019
Fostering National A2J Coordination
The National Action Committee (NAC) is a national body created in 2008 to work across the justice sector on access to justice issues facing Canadians in civil and family matters. NAC is a national catalyst for reform, fostering engagement, pursuing a strategic collaborative approach to reforms, and coordinating the efforts of all participants. It will undertake various activities including: implementation of its new governance model; holding its annual summit, regional colloquia, and communities of practice events; and, continuing to work on its justice development goals and justice metrics.
$ 50,000
June 24, 2019