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Helping legal aid clinics do more for low-income Ontarians

Published April 3, 2018

Thanks to an investment from the province of Ontario to ensure that more low‑income Ontarians can obtain legal services, community legal clinics and student legal aid services societies throughout the province will receive an additional $7.3 million in funding in 2018/19. Legal Aid Ontario funds 73 community legal clinics throughout the province. These clinics are independently…

LAO starts to collect race-based data

Published March 26, 2018

Starting April 1, 2018, when someone applies for legal aid, we’ll be asking them about their race because this helps Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) to improve how we deliver services and to create the types of programs that certain racialized groups need. What do we mean by “racialized” Racialized communities refer to all people who don’t consider…

Details on Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility increase for 2018

Published March 20, 2018

On April 1, 2018, Legal Aid Ontario is raising the eligibility threshold by six per cent for its certificate program and for clinic law services. LAO implemented the first of multiple six per cent increases on Nov. 1, 2014. Certificate program The certificate program provides eligible, low income Ontarians publicly funded legal representation. A certificate is…

Longer than usual wait times for LAO’s call centre

Published March 14, 2018

Recently, people calling Legal Aid Ontario have been waiting longer than usual to get a hold of someone to either discuss their file or to apply for legal aid. We are aware of this and we apologize. Over the next several months, we will be working on the staffing issue, which has led to the…

Provide your feedback: LAO’s Executive Compensation Framework

Published March 13, 2018

As a requirement under the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 (BPSEC), Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) is developing an Executive Compensation Framework. The BPSEC establishes requirements that designated public sector employers must meet when setting executive compensation. This Framework is a written program that describes the compensation LAO provides to its leadership team. The…

LAO issues third quarter report for 2017/18

Published February 15, 2018

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) has posted its third quarter report for 2017/18. The report provides an overview of its major initiatives and provides a snapshot look at the organization’s service levels and financial health. The third quarter report, which covers the period of October to December 2017, highlights: LAO’s ongoing racialized communities strategy consultation the…

2017 Sidney B. Linden Award goes to Grace Pluchino

Published January 11, 2018

Click here to download image. Grace Pluchino, a community legal worker at the forefront of tenants’ rights for the past 30 years, is this year’s recipient of the Sidney B. Linden Award given by Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) to honour exceptional individuals who help low-income Ontarians in the pursuit of access to justice. In a nomination jointly…

A new legal aid clinic for Black Ontarians

Published January 10, 2018

TORONTO (January 10, 2018) – The Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC), a new independent legal clinic, has been formed with the mandate of serving the legal needs of Black Ontarians. BLAC is a not for profit corporation under the laws of the Province of Ontario created for the purpose of contributing to the eradication of anti‑Black…

LAO responds to news coverage of Nigerian LGBTQ refugee claims

Published November 10, 2017

LAO is concerned about the possible impact on refugee claimants flowing from a story that appeared on The National and other news outlets on November 8th and 9th about Nigerian LGBTQ claimants. In mid-October, Legal Aid Ontario was contacted by CBC news to confirm facts with regard to an investigation that the CBC was doing…

LAO issues second quarterly report for July to September 2017

Published November 3, 2017

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) has released its report for Q2 2017/18. Among its highlights: An update and overview of the services that LAO will provide for Ontario’s Black communities as it works to set up a new, independent community-based organization to deliver legal services. An overview of LAO’s action plan for domestic abuse clients. This…


Showing 91 - 100 of 162 results