Links and resources for refugee help

Legal aid and lawyers:

• Legal Aid Ontario (LAO): Services are provided to eligible refugee claimants by private bar and LAO staff lawyers, and are also available at some legal clinics. Services include Basis of Claim form preparation, representation at refugee hearings, at the refugee appeal division, and at judicial reviews (Federal Court).

• Refugee Law Office (RLO) (Toronto): Offers services to legally aided refugee claimants in Toronto. The RLO also provides representation at detention reviews before the Immigration Division, as well as support to lawyers and community outreach.

• Community Legal Clinics (CLCs) (Ontario): Some of these non-profit legal clinics offer immigration and refugee law services. Contact your local clinic to see if these services are available. Community Legal Education Ontario is a specialized community legal clinic that provides public legal education on many topics of law, including immigration and refugee law.

• Legal aid across Canada: Legal aid across Canada: B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador offer immigration and refugee legal aid services. The Legal Aid Plans of Canada website has a complete list; however, some provincial plans do not cover refugee matters.

• Law Societies across Canada: Use this resource to make a complaint about a lawyer located in your province or territory

Community organizations:

• Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR): A network of community-based refugee organizations. Find an organization in your area.

• Centre francophone de Toronto (CFT): Resources and services for francophones in the Toronto area.

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC): Find refugee and immigration services in your area.

• HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO): This specialty legal clinic offers help with immigration law services for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Paralegals:

• Find a Lawyer or Paralegal (Ontario): Find a Lawyer or Paralegal (Ontario): Use the Law Society of Ontario’s directory to find a legal representative for your refugee and immigration case.

Immigration consultants:

• Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council: Visit the council’s website to find a consultant or file a complaint about an immigration consultant.

Government Departments

• Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA): Information for non-Canadians from the government agency responsible for “managing the access of people and goods to and from Canada.”

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: The government agency responsible for immigration and citizenship issues, including refugee matters.

• Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB): An independent administrative tribunal responsible for making decisions on immigration and refugee matters. The IRB decides who needs refugee protection among the thousands of claimants who come to Canada annually.

Other organizations and helpful resources:

• Canadian Association for Refugee Lawyers (CARL): A national advocacy organization for balanced and fair refugee law and human rights in Canada.

• Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO): Immigration and refugee law resources and materials.

• Matthew House: A Christian organization providing safe shelter, settlement assistance and bridges into the community for newly arrived refugees.

• No One is Illegal: A grassroots organization of “immigrants, refugees and allies who fight for the rights of all migrants to live with dignity and respect.”

• Refugee Rights in Ontario: Information for people who work with refugee claimants. This CLEO website offers information on making a refugee claim, getting legal help and more.

• Settlement.org (Ontario): Provides information and answers for newcomers to Ontario.

• Steps to Justice: Provides detailed legal information about refugee and immigration issues and other legal issues

• What to expect in the hearing room: See what a hearing room at the Immigration and Refugee Board in Toronto looks like, and learn about who may be at your hearing and what they do.

Forms and guides:

• Applying for Refugee Protection from within Canada Guide: An online application package consisting of an instruction guide and the required forms.

• Basis of Claim (BOC) Form: All refugee claimants must fill out this form, which contains all of the important information to be used to determine whether a claim should be accepted.

• Will I be able to make a refugee claim at the Canada‑US border?
  Steps to Justice

• Claimant’s Guide Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB): This guide outlines how refugee decisions are made in Canada, the role of the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) and the IRB, and what you need to do to complete your application.

• Claimant’s Kit (IRB): Provides quick links to the Claimant’s Guide (see above), important instructions in 11 languages, and links to the relevant forms.

• Guide for designated representatives (IRB): Information about the role and responsibilities of people who have been or will be appointed designated representatives.

• Humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) applications and refugee claims: how are they different? (Information for front-line workers and advocates working with women who have experienced family violence and who have questions about their immigration status and right to remain in Canada)

• Judicial Review applications(Federal Court): Timelines, questions and answers and links to forms for the Judicial Review at the Federal Court.

• Making a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application: may be important for women who want to stay permanently in Canada and are thinking of making an H&C application.

• Mental Illness, Criminal Offences, & Deportation: Tips for front-line workers

• Ready Tours: Educate, orient, and support you as you prepare for your refugee hearing; free select cities across Canada, including Toronto

• Will I be able to make a refugee claim at the Canada – US border?
  Steps to Justice

• Refugee Hearing Preparation Guide: Educates, guides, and supports refugee claimants preparing for their refugee hearings, while informing service providers of the refugee hearing preparation process

• Refugee Rights in Ontario: Information for front-line workers: Provides plain language information on what the new refugee determination rules mean in practical terms for people making refugee claims in Canada.

The law:

• Refugee Appeal Division Rules: Govern refugee appeals.

• Refugee Protection Division Rules: Govern determinations of refugee claims

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

• Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations: Regulations under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.