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Durham Community Legal Clinic

The Durham Community Legal Clinic is funded by Legal Aid Ontario. It is designed to help residents of low income within the Regional Municipality of Durham, in Ontario, to get a fair access to justice. Providing these residents with access to justice, entails that notwithstanding their low economic status in society, they will be granted equality before the law, which includes the right to counsel and the right to a fair trial. This is done to put emphasis on the various legal needs of those living in disadvantaged communities.

The Durham Community Legal Clinic provides legal representation in numerous areas of law, such as Landlord and Tenant (only for tenants), Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Canada Pension Plan Disability (CPPD), Criminal Injuries Compensation Board (CICB), Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) and Workplace Safety & Insurance Appeals Tribunal (WSIAT), Ontario Works (OW), Employment Insurance (EI), Wills and Power of Attorney, Refugee Law and Sponsorship Applications, Small Claims Court. The Clinic also provides administrative services, such as commissioning and notarization of documents, during certain days of the week.^[1]

Here in Canada there is a growing demand from the public to lower legal prices. The costs of accessing justice in Canada is a continuous growing concern, as a lot of people cannot afford to pay the high rates to acquire legal representation. At the Durham Community Legal Clinic, residents of the Regional Municipality of Durham are provided with proper legal representation, at a very low cost. Clients who seek the Clinic’s representation are not required to make payments for legal fees. Only if a case is successful, will the client be required to pay a small legal fee.

History

The Durham Community Legal Clinic was founded in 1985 due to popular demand from the Durham Tenants Hotline, as well as from residents of the Regional Municipality of Durham. The Durham Tenants Hotline applied for funding, and once the funding was granted, the Clinic opened its doors to the public in February 1985. The funding was granted by the Ontario Legal Aid Plan (OLAP), which was the previous program in place before Legal Aid Ontario. Today, as a successor to the Ontario Legal Aid Plan, it is Legal Aid Ontario that continues to fund the Clinic. Legal Aid Ontario is a program of assistance developed by the government, in order to clear the financial barriers associated with accessing justice in Canada.^[2]

Funding

According to a survey conducted in 2011 by the Department of Justice Canada, 88% of Canadians said that they were in favour of public spending on Legal Aid.^[3] Notwithstanding the public support for spending on Legal Aid funding, the program is under-funded, resulting in not being able to accomplish its goal of ensuring equal access to justice for residents in the province of Ontario.^[4]

As a result of the shortage in funding, community legal clinics are also directly affected. The shortage in funding prevents clinics from hiring more lawyers, as the clinics cannot afford to pay more wages. This often leads to having fewer lawyers managing twice as many cases. This puts clients at a disadvantage, as their cases might not be devoted the proper amount of time required.

Works Cited

Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page without content in them (see the help page).

^ Durham Community Legal Clinic. "Our Services". Durham Community Legal Clinic. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
^ Taylor, Kim; Svechnikova, Ksenia (February 2010). What does it cost to access justice in Canada? How much is "too much"? And how do we know?: literature review (PDF). Edmonton, Alta: The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice. p. 1. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
^ Canada. Dept. of Justice. Evaluation Division (January 2012). Legal aid program evaluation: final report (PDF). Ottawa, Ont.: Department of Justice Canada. p. 24. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
^ Ontario Bar Association (2007). Getting it right: the report of the Ontario Bar Association Justice Stakeholder Summit. Toronto, Ont.: Ontario Bar Association. p. 6. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

[1] Durham Community Legal Clinic. "Our Services". Durham Community Legal Clinic. Retrieved 21 October 2015.

[2] Taylor, Kim; Svechnikova, Ksenia (February 2010). What does it cost to access justice in Canada? How much is "too much"? And how do we know?: literature review (PDF). Edmonton, Alta: The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice. p. 1. Retrieved 21 October 2015.

[3] Canada. Dept. of Justice. Evaluation Division (January 2012). Legal aid program evaluation: final report (PDF). Ottawa, Ont.: Department of Justice Canada. p. 24. Retrieved 21 October 2015.

[4] Ontario Bar Association (2007). Getting it right: the report of the Ontario Bar Association Justice Stakeholder Summit. Toronto, Ont.: Ontario Bar Association. p. 6. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)

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