Kensington-Bellwoods endorses new campaign launched September 1, 2020
Community Groups Across Ontario Call on Ottawa and Queen's Park for a Just Recovery
Five Steps for an Equitable Recovery
WE ARE PROVIDING SERVICES
BY EMAIL: kenbst3@lao.on.ca
and
BY PHONE: 416-924-4244, ext. 21
In the interests of preserving and promoting the health of our clients, staff and other community members, effective Monday, March 16, all enquiries and intakes of Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services will be handled by telephone or email until further notice. The office is not open to the public, and there are currently no caseworkers or support staff at the office, but we continue to provide service remotely by telephone and email. Please be prepared to take down written notes of the important information that is being provided to the public in our voice mail message when you call.
Please call 416-924-4244, ext. 21 or email kenbst3@lao.on.ca
Domestic Violence Survivors:
During the COVID-19 crisis, LAO has waived all legal and financial eligibility for domestic violence survivors. This accommodation will remain in effect until further notice. Click here for more information from Legal Aid Ontario
Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services (“KBCLS”) is a legal clinic that offers legal advice, representation, public legal education, law reform, and community development services to low-income people in the neighbourhood of Kensington-Bellwoods in Toronto. Like you, we have watched the effects of systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism in policing come to a head in recent days. We have also witnessed the tremendous swell of protests, activism, and calls for change. We all owe a debt to the Black organizers who have been working on this issue for decades, as we come to understand the problem more and more clearly.
KBCLS stands with the Black community - not just in the area that we serve, but across Ontario, Canada, and the rest of the world. We see the impact of social and economic discrimination, inequity, and both overt and systemic racism in every aspect of our work. We will continue to work alongside marginalized people to help make positive changes in the world.
The KBCLS board and staff have recently participated in a long-overdue session on anti-Black racism. We are using our lessons learned from this process to inform our current and future work on governance policies, program evaluations, and performance metrics for our clinic.
KBCLS believes in all forms of justice, including social justice, and we stand with those who demand that their legal system also be just.
The KBCLS board commits to challenge anti-Black racism, and affirms its solidarity both with Black communities and with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Black Lives Matter, and always have.
KBCLS Board Members:
Jeff Billard
Jenn St. Louis
Gary Newhouse
Lee Tenenhouse
Michelle Thompson
Zachary Tucker-Abramson
Cecilia Wang
Chanel White
Karly Wilson
.
We are a non-profit community based legal clinic serving low income members of our community who qualify for our services and meet our case selection criteria.