Services We Offer
What We Do
KBCLS provides free services for people who qualify for the service. Our legal clinic work is carried out through:
- Advice and Representation
- Public Legal Education
- Law Reform
- Community Development
Advice and Representation
Free summary advice is provided on request in our areas of legal practice. Where the clinic has a conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest, we may be required to refer you to other services available to you.
Representation is free and available to clients who meet eligibility guidelines and whose legal problem falls within our areas of practice. If we are unable to provide representation, we will refer clients to the appropriate legal, community or government services.
Whether we can represent you will depend on the merits of your case and our workload.
Public Legal Education
KBCLS staff organize, conduct and participate in legal education on topics of interest to people living in our community. Public Legal Education includes presentations at conferences, to groups, and individual organizations. We will consider all requests for presentations. Public Legal Education also includes the production of written materials, usually in the form of plain-language pamphlets.
To Request a Public Legal Education Session, please click here.
Law Reform
Our clinic, and all clinics in Ontario, are mandated to challenge the law where we have determined it does harm to our client community. Therefore, we take test cases to higher courts, make submissions to government bodies and lobby politicians at all levels of government on behalf of our client community.
Community Development
Clinics are mandated to carry out community development work. This can take the form of organizing groups of tenants, low-wage workers, social assistance recipients or homeless people to assert their rights. It may also involve working in concert with other progressive community organizations in our community to improve the quality of life in our community.
What we can provide legal help with:
Employment Insurance
We help workers establish eligibility for benefits.
General Administrative
We commission/notarize applications for birth certificates, name changes, rental subsidy agreements and provide statutory declarations for proof of income for Ontario Student Assistance Program, daycare subsidy and housing purposes.
Housing
We provide a range of services in assisting tenants to defend against evictions, in getting repairs done and to stop illegal rent increases.
Immigration and Refugee
We help with matters of sponsorship, citizenship and Humanitarian and Compassionate applications, as well as matters dealing with Family Reunification, Permanent Resident applications for Protected Persons and Pre-Removal Risk Assessments. Whether we can represent you will depend on the merits of your case and our workload.
Income Security
We can help with regular CPP or CPP (Disability) issues. We don’t help you complete CPP applications (many other community agencies will assist you with filling out forms), but we can help you with appeals if benefits are denied, or with problems once you are receiving CPP. We can also help with matters concerning Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement benefits.
Social Assistance
We assist people in matters with Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program.
We cannot advise on but can provide information and referrals:
- Aboriginal Rights
- Child Welfare
- Correctional Law
- Criminal Law
- Employment Law
- Family Law
- Public Services
- Environmental Law
- Healthcare
- Wills and Estates