Merger of Algoma and Elliot Lake clinics scheduled for April 1

Published: April 2, 2026

As of April 1, 2026, two community legal clinics in northern Ontario’s Algoma District will be merging into one.

The Algoma Community Legal Clinic in Sault Ste. Marie will merge with the Elliot Lake & North Shore Community Legal Clinic.

These two general service legal clinics are funded by Legal Aid Ontario to serve eligible clients in poverty law matters within their respective catchment areas. The Algoma clinic will absorb the Elliot Lake & North Shore clinic, and the latter’s office will remain open as the Algoma Community Legal Clinic – Elliot Lake Branch Office. This branch office will continue to offer legal services to low-income clients in the catchment area. The Algoma clinic will also serve the communities from White River to Spanish and Elliot Lake within Anishnaabek Lands.

The Elliot Lake & North Shore clinic currently provides free poverty law legal services, areas of law that directly impact low-income individuals and families. They serve low-income residents in the community of Elliot Lake and the north shore of Lake Huron, stretching from the communities of Iron Bridge to Massey, Ontario, along Highway 17, also known as the Trans-Canada Highway. Eligible clients in this region will continue to receive Legal Aid Ontario funded clinic services after the merger.

This change is the result of the retirement of two longtime staff at the Elliot Lake & North Shore clinic. Lawyer/executive director Ken Bondy and paralegal/director of administration Carmen Bondy have been managing the clinic for 27 years. They announced their retirement, effective March 31, 2026. Over the past few years, the clinic board and staff have explored various succession plans to continue as an independent legal organization. It was decided that merging with a sister clinic would be the best way to continue to serve clients in the region especially since the Elliot Lake & North Shore clinic had historically been a satellite office of the Algoma clinic. In many ways, this is a homecoming.

The merger means that

• The Algoma clinic, located at 477 Queen St. E., Suite 301, in Sault Ste. Marie will absorb the clinic catchment of the Elliot Lake clinic and provide a continuity of services;

• The Elliot Lake & North Shore clinic, located at 31 Nova Scotia Walk, Suite 300, in Elliot Lake, will remain open but will become a branch office of the Algoma clinic; and

• The name and all signage and website information at the Elliot Lake & North Shore Community Legal Clinic will be changed after April 1, 2026.