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COVID-19 updates
We’ve temporarily changed some of our services.

Legal Aid Ontario is moving!
Starting April 2023, Legal Aid Ontario’s Provincial Office, Toronto Family Law Services Office, Criminal Senior Counsel Services Office, and Refugee Law Office will be located on the seventh floor of the Atrium on Bay.

Legal Aid Ontario
Atrium on Bay
20 Dundas St. West
Suite 730

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Français LAO Client Portal
Français LAO Client Portal
  • Services
    • Temporary service changes due to COVID-19
    • COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions
    • Our services
    • Criminal legal issues
    • Domestic Violence
    • Family legal issues
    • Mental health legal issues
    • Refugee and immigration legal issues
    • Legal clinics
    • How to apply
    • Find a lawyer
      • Finding the right legal aid lawyer
    • What do you think about our services?
  • For legal professionals
    • COVID-19: Ongoing list of supports for lawyers
    • LASA 2020 process updates for lawyers
    • Changes to policies and certificate coverage
    • Roster resources
      • Audit & Compliance
      • Billing
      • Case management
      • Forms library
      • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020 policies
      • Legal Aid Online
      • LAO LAW
      • Minimum experience requirements
      • More resources
    • Do legal aid work
    • Mentoring
    • Test case funding
    • News for lawyers
    • B3 Newsletters
    • Contacts for lawyers
  • Corporate
    • About
      • By-laws
      • Our clients
      • Board of Directors
      • Executive Team
      • Board Advisory Committees
      • Sidney B. Linden Award
      • French Language Services
    • Legal Aid Services Act, 2020
      • LASA 2020 Rules and Policies
      • LASA 2020 glossary
    • Consultations
    • LAO Consultation Registry
    • Open Government
    • Reports
    • Publications
    • News
    • Social media
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • FAQ

Aboriginal Justice Strategy

The Aboriginal Justice Strategy (AJS) is an initiative to expand access to justice and increase Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO) ability to respond to local needs of First Nation, Métis, and Inuit clients and communities.

When the strategy was developed in 2008, four pressing concerns with LAO service delivery and organizational structures and priorities were identified:

  1. Indigenous Peoples are deeply impacted by systemic barriers to accessing justice
  2. There is a lack of Indigenous representation within LAO and LAO’s Advisory Systems
  3. LAO needs to work at improving service on Indigenous-specific legal issues and addressing the role of LAO in participating or supporting Indigenous-specific or driven processes
  4. There is a lack of Indigenous legal representation or legal representation that is appropriately informed on the unique needs of Indigenous clients

In the past ten years of the AJS, there have been a number of decisions and findings that find the criminal justice, correctional and child welfare systems continue to discriminate against Indigenous Peoples.

LAO has made public commitments to work in partnership with Indigenous Peoples, and federal and provincial governments to eliminate Indigenous overrepresentation in incarceration — both youth and adult — in accordance with the Calls to Action made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The organization must, as part of this commitment, ensure that every policy being considered specifically addresses how the policy could impact Indigenous clients and communities. LAO should build on the relationships that have been born out of the consultation process to help answer those questions.

Reports

  • Progress update: Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
    Paper | September 2022
  • Relationships First, Business Later
    Aboriginal Justice Strategy consultation report: Part 1
    Paper | June 2021
  • The Development of Legal Aid Ontario’s Aboriginal Strategy
    Paper | June 2008

Resources

  • “Do you wish to self-identify as Aboriginal, such as First Nation, Métis or Inuit?”
  • What is Gladue?
  • This form is feedback only.

Related Pages

Core client strategies

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