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Parkdale Community Legal Services Annual General Meeting. September 24, 2008. Annual Report. Introduction to PCLS Board of Directors Management Team Student Program Staff Law Groups Statistics – Casework & Outreach. PCLS - Mission Statement.
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Parkdale Community Legal Services Annual General Meeting September 24, 2008
Annual Report • Introduction to PCLS • Board of Directors • Management Team • Student Program • Staff • Law Groups • Statistics – Casework & Outreach
PCLS - Mission Statement PCLS helps people to avoid, prepare for and overcome poverty law problems through a combination of: • community development and action; • the provision of competent and professional legal advice and representation; and, • community legal education. PCLS works with our client community, in all its diversity, to build and mobilize an ever increasing community movement for social change, to create the social and economic conditions to eradicate poverty and oppression, to restore and revitalize the quality of life and enhance self-reliance in the Parkdale and Swansea communities.
Intensive Program in Poverty Law • We have twenty law students per academic term from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. They take part in the law school's ‘Intensive Program in Poverty Law.’ • This program attempts to develop in the students a critical analysis of lawyering, of poverty, and the limited utility of ‘traditional lawyering’ techniques versus ‘non-traditional (`poverty law') lawyering’ (law reform work, community development). • The actual service delivery — legal advice, assistance and representation — is provided by the law students and articling students under the supervision of the staff lawyers. Law students and articling students also take part in community development and law reform projects.
Areas of Law The legal services we provide are in a wide variety of subject areas, including: • tenants' rights; • social assistance; • workers' rights; • immigration & sponsorship; • refugee claims; • mental health law, and, • domestic violence.
Mini-Clinics We have 'mini–clinics' [on–site 'cultural interpreters'] different afternoons, to decrease barriers to those in our diverse client community who would otherwise have difficulty accessing our services. The six languages are: • Spanish • Portuguese • Vietnamese • Polish • Tamil • Tibetan
Board of Directors Reflecting the dual mandate of the clinic, Board members include: • Parkdale/Swansea community residents; • present and/or past clients of the clinic; • faculty members of Osgoode Hall Law School; • lawyers appointed by Osgoode's Dean (former students of the Parkdale program); • a student participating in the Parkdale program elected by their fellow students; and, • the Academic Director of the clinic.
Board of Directors [cont’d] In the past year the Board has: • Held a training session on understanding financial statements • Worked on making board meetings more productive • Dealt with a conflict-of-interest situation • Responding to consultations from our funders Legal Aid Ontario, and the umbrella organization Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario • Participated in an Osgoode Hall Law School faculty recruitment • Dealing with a shortfall in our legal disbursements • Working on changes to our annual planning process • Getting comfortable with using a SharePoint website for collaborating
PCLS Management Team Clinic Director The Clinic Director has overall responsibility for the delivery of legal services and outreach services subject to the over-riding authority of the Board. Academic Director The Academic Director has primary responsibility for student education, conducting the Academic Seminar and law reform and research carried out by the students, monitoring and adjustment of student workloads, and management of student supervision. Director of Administration The Director of Administration is responsible for the monitoring and management of money, supplies, the physical plant, our physical assets, and support personnel.
PCLS Management Team [cont’d] Management Team has been working on the following initiatives in the past year: • Hirings for six leaves of absence • Managing shortfall in LD funding • Received visitors from the Edmonton legal clinic • Working with ‘A-Team’ on file storage room • Negotiating medical/dental insurance contract • Consulted with staff on a capital purchase program regarding an operating surplus • Organized retreat on healthy workplace initiatives
PCLS – Student Program The formal educational component of the student program include: • an introductory week of clinic based skills instruction (Skills Training Week) during the last week of August • an orientation week at the beginning of each semester • a weekly seminar offered during the school year at the law school by the Academic Director • Group meetings conducted at the clinic by staff lawyers or CLWs two mornings a week, and, • The writing of a 30-page law reform research paper, which is intended to be a contribution to the Clinic's ongoing law reform work. .
PCLS – Student Program [cont’d] The following initiatives were worked on in the past year by Professor Shelley Gavigan and others: • Revision of Skills Training Week • Organized a Clinic Instructors’ Roundtable with another teaching clinic • Professional Development Fund created for clinical instructor staff • Developed a ‘PCLS Social Justice Quiz’ with fall term students • Had a reference librarian review the law library in the clinic
PCLS Staff – Service Delivery • Staff Lawyers • Law Students (unpaid) • Articling Students • Community Legal Workers (CLWs)
PCLS Staff – Admin Support • Group Administrators • Admin Assistant • Receptionists • Office Cleaner
Staff - Achievements • Staff worked on healthy workplace initiatives arising from a retreat • Developed a new interactive website • Two staff lawyers awarded sabbaticals to do work on clinical instructor teaching modules • Workers’ Rights CLW obtained grant to conduct research on precarious employment • Worked on improvements to information at reception area • Received funding for a Tibetan language mini-clinic from the Law Foundation
Law Groups – L & T The casework of this group includes negotiations with landlords and their agents, and representation of tenants before the Landlord and Tenant Board in housing matters (evictions, disrepair, etc.), as well as human rights in housing issues. The community work of this Group is directed at tenant organizing, self-help (including roomers) and working with the homeless.
L & T Initiatives • Casework to preserve affordable housing – e.g. – Spencer • Input into LTB forms & procedures • Worked on a repair ‘self-help kit’ with OCAP • Supporting the City in an OMB challenge to a by-law preserving the former ‘Pope Squat’ • Working with the Parkdale Tenants Ass’n (PTA): • Golden Cockroach Award to worst landlord in Parkdale • Lord of the Slums/Slums Unlimited Campaign • Landlord licensing Campaign • Organizing TCHC tenants • Organizing METCAP tenants Golden Cockroach Award
Law Groups – SAVAH • The work of the ‘SAVAH’ Group (SAVAH - Social Assistance, Violence & Health) primarily focuses on problems of income maintenance (i.e. social assistance, workfare, disability benefits). • The Group also concerns itself with assisting victims of violence and the criminal justice system, and the mental health system.
Law Groups – SAVAH [cont’d] Major campaigns this group is involved with include: • ODSP Action Coalition – Train the Trainer & Access to ODSP Working Group • No One Is Illegal • Ontario Needs A Raise • Hands Off • Don’t Ask Don’t Tell • Ticketbusters • Mad Pride • PAVE – Parkdale Anti-Violence Education Working Group
Law Groups – Immigration • This group works on issues relating to refugee claimants and immigrants, including: • refugee determination; • family reunification; • rights of children; and, • applications for landing based on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
Law Groups – Immigration [cont’d] • JR’s – e.g. medical inadmissability due to HIV/AIDs • Two Strikes, You’re Out • War Resisters Campaign • Drop The Fee Advocates • Children’s Right to Education & Health • Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell • No One Is Illegal War Resisters Campaign Drop The Fee Advocates No One Is Illegal Campaign
Law Groups – Workers’ Rights This Group addresses the concerns of non-unionized workers and covers the areas of: • employment standards • employment insurance • employment related human rights, and • workers' compensation. The community work includes involvement with contingent workers' organizations as well as other community groups concerned with workers, outreach to workers, public education and raising awareness of issues and problems of non-unionized workers.
Law Groups – Workers’ Rights • Involved in a number of group cases involving unpaid wages, etc. • Considerable media attention – e.g.- Toronto Star’s “War On Poverty” • Work with the Workers’ Action Centre, a member run workers centre, on: • Bad Boss Campaign • Employment Standards - expansion & enforcement • Work with the Employment Standards Work Group to improve the Employment Standards Act, and policies and practices of the Ministry of Labour.
Casework Statistics * - Brief Services – legal files with no more than two hours work.
Summary of Casework Activities • Over 10,000 assisted or referred for assistance • 448 new files opened • 404 files carried over • 1576 brief services • 1526 summary advice • 376 files closed • 3954 assisted (6678 counting family members) • 3787 referrals made
Summary of Outreach Activities • Staff attended 92 meetings • 38 oral law reform presentations were made • 10 written briefs were submitted • 77 PLE presentations • 2446 participants • 17 PLE publications • 13,634 copies distributed • 28 media contacts • 34 staff attended 9 training sessions
The End • This is only a partial snapshot of some of the great work done by all our board members, staff, students and volunteers • Thanks to all of them for all the great work! • Any Questions?
