Black Legal Action Centre opens

Published: March 18, 2019

People who are low‑income, identify as Black or African Canadian, and have a legal issue that has to do with anti‑Black racism can now contact the Black Legal Action Centre for legal aid services.

The Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) is a not‑for‑profit organization aimed at combatting individual and systemic anti‑Black racism through the provision of legal aid services.

BLAC’s opening fulfils a commitment Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) made in September 2017, following LAO’s defunding of the African Canadian Legal Clinic (ACLC), to open a new specialty clinic with and for members of Ontario’s Black communities. As part of its commitment to ensuring that there would be no reduction in clinic law services to members of Ontario’s Black communities, LAO also provided interim services while BLAC was setting up. LAO has ended interim clinic law services to Black Ontarians and encourages individuals and referring agencies to contact BLAC directly for relevant legal services.

LAO would like to thank those organizations and individuals who helped LAO deliver interim clinic law services to members of Ontario’s Black communities during this time, including the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the members of LAO’s Test Case Committee, the members of the private bar who provided summary legal advice and brief services through LAO’s toll‑free phone line, and individual members of the Black community that consulted with LAO.