We are pleased to announce that GTA clinics have rejected the “three clinic” model proposed in the Transformation Project’s Vision Report.
On January 17, 2015, over one hundred staff workers, board members, and community members, representing 13 GTA legal clinics, convened at the “Clinics and Communities Conference,” where they agreed that the proposals provided by the Report — in particular its proposal to close existing clinics and replace them with three mega service centres — fail to meet the particular needs of the GTA’s diverse clinics and neighbourhoods.
This synopsis provides an overview of the conference’s discussions and potential implications. To see a report-back from KBCLS, click here.
Format
The all-day conference was organized by Kensington Bellwoods Community Legal Services, independently of the Transformation Project and Legal Aid Ontario. Its goal was to explore alternatives to the Vision Report’s current proposals and process. The conference was the first time since the Project started that GTA clinic members (aside from the handful of Steering Committee representatives) have gathered together to discuss their specific needs, challenges, and strengths.
The conference’s first panel featured speakers from four legal clinics (Parkdale, Rexdale, Downsview, and West Scarborough), who outlined the various issues facing their local communities. The speakers highlighted differences and similarities in struggles by low-income communities to access justice across Toronto.
The second panel featured Kathy Laird of the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, Josephine Grey of Low Income Families Together, and Mary Jane Mossman of Osgoode Hall Law School, who presented various critiques of the Report and its process. The speakers canvassed the need for pilot projects, such as community hubs, clinic clustering, and resource sharing across catchment borders. They also emphasised the need for provincial policy change and increased clinic funding.
Discussion
The conference provided clinics with a chance to identify and discuss many of the concerns and much of the confusion raised by the Vision Report.
For instance, attendees spoke of a lack of clarity regarding the “endorsement” process. Jack De Klerk (ED of Neighbourhood Legal Services), responded, as Project Co-Chair, that clinics will no longer be expected to formally vote in February. Rather, any future endorsement process will serve as a mechanism for feedback, and not a step towards implementation. This did not fully quell people’s confusion.
Audience members also raised procedural and administrative concerns about the GTA Transformation Project process, including the undisclosed amount of Transformation-related funding that has been allocated to Flemingdon Community Legal Services. Flemingdon’s ED, Marjorie Hiley, is one of the two Project Co-Chairs. Approximately $200,000 to $300,000 of this fund remains unspent.
Audience members noted that the Project needs to — but has thus far failed to — respond to the particularities of Toronto’s different clinics and neighbourhoods. The audience highlighted the inadequacies of the Project’s “one size fits all” approach to the provision of legal aid services.
Next Steps
In considering ways to move forward, it was heartening to hear clinic members state their desire to work more closely with neighbouring clinics. Many staff members acknowledged the need for united advocacy for a fairer social assistance program, in order to systematically address the immense ODSP caseload overwhelming clinics.
Attendees also suggested that the Project may benefit from a reorganization of the Working Group and Steering Group Committees’ structures and decision-making processes. Community groups called for increased community and partner representation at the management level of the Project, while many clinics (including Parkdale) acknowledged a need for more widespread community consultation. Others called for more structural change, suggesting an alternative process of oversight which would be community-driven.
Surprisingly, there was little mention of the increased funding to legal clinics recently announced by the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Aid Ontario, which apparently includes funding for 70+ new clinic positions.
As the conference was not a Project-organised event, the meeting did not conclude with any official undertaking by Project members about their next steps. Nonetheless, it was understood that the next Project Steering Committee meeting on February 25, 2015 will address the comments and issues raised at the conference, including the collective rejection of the Vision Report’s proposal to close clinics.
We at Concerned Parkdale are delighted that clinics have clearly shown their strength in numbers and collective action. We look forward to seeing clinics negotiate with the province and LAO for increased, reliable, and sustainable funding to ensure access to justice for all Ontarians. We note that this is a call that has been made of clinics for months now by clinic users, clinic workers, the media, ourselves, KBCLS, Keep Neighbourhood Legal Clinics, Stop Clinic Mergers, the Law Union of Ontario, law professors, and hundreds of Canadians. As of this conference, it seems those calls are finally being heeded, and we are excited to see the outcome.
Concerned Parkdale 