TORONTO, November 12, 1996 -- How do low-income Canadians fare under the law? Have community legal clinics served the poor well in the past 25 years?

These and other questions will be explored during an upcoming conference organized by York University's Osgoode Hall Law School in conjunction with Parkdale Community Legal Services.

"Poverty Law Theory, Poverty Law Practice: A Conference to Mark the 25th Anniversary of Community Legal Clinics in Ontario" will be held from November 14 to 16 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Parkdale Community Legal Services, which was founded by students and faculty members at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School.

Community activists, academics, lawyers, justices, and politicians, including Toronto mayor Barbara Hall, will participate in the conference. It begins with a celebration dinner at the Sheraton Centre on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 14 featuring the Hon. Roy McMurtry, Chief Justice of Ontario, as guest speaker. A longtime supporter of Ontario legal clinics, McMurtry will discuss the important role of community legal clinics in the Ontario justice system. The evening will be co-chaired by Susan Elliott, treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada, and Marilyn Pilkington, Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School.

"Ontario has the most advanced system of legal clinics in the world," says Osgoode Hall professor Shelley Gavigan, one of the conference organizers. "These clinics represent a visionary experiment that has really delivered on its promise. The Ontario clinics have also developed the area of poverty law, which we want to explore with the conference."

"The premise of these clinics is that the law is not neutral, and that there are some areas of law that have particular consequences for low-income people," Gavigan says. "We need to develop an ever-increasing range of creative strategies to defend, advance, and vindicate the rights of low-income people. The conference will enable us to examine what we've learned about community legal clinics over the past 25 years, and help us to determine how we can address better the legal needs of the poor in the future."

Low-income citizens are particularly affected by welfare law, landlord and tenant law, employment standards law, and laws related to persons with disabilities. The conference will offer workshops in such areas as housing and homelessness; human rights and equity; workers' rights; and immigration and refugee issues.

Events on Friday, Nov.15th will be held at the Masaryk Cowan Community Centre, 220 Cowan Ave.(at Queen St. W.); Saturday's sessions will be held at Parkdale Public Library, auditorium, 1303 Queen St. W. (corner of Queen and Cowan).

Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS) was Ontario's first community-based law office with a teaching component. It was initially designed to explore the inadequacies of the existing legal aid system to deliver services to the poor, and to use the clinic approach as an educational vehicle for law students.

The clinic was established in 1971 from a storefront office on Queen Street West by students and faculty members at Osgoode Hall Law School, with the support of the Parkdale community. The students, who voluntarily ran the service, were looking for hands-on legal involvement in the community, clinic training and course credits. In 1975, with the support and assistance of then Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry, the clinics received further financial support from the Ontario Legal Aid Plan. From this early experiment, the Ontario Legal Aid Plan has grown, and now funds 71 community-based legal clinics in Ontario.

Nov. 15 and 16 will be devoted to workshops, lectures, and panel discussions related to issues around legal aid. Conference highlights are attached. For a complete listing or to register for the free conference, call: Mohan Sharma, Osgoode Hall Law School, Alumni Office, at (416) 736-5638.

For more information, call:

Mary Ann Horgan
York University
Media Relations
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22086

Prof. Shelley Gavigan
York University
Osgoode Hall Law School
(416) 736-5558
Parkdale clinic (416) 531-2411

Sine MacKinnon
Senior Advisor for Media Relations
York University
(416) 736-2100, ext. 22087
YU/061/96

Friday, Nov. 15

"Defining and Meeting the Needs of Low-Income People". All events are free and open to the public, and take place at the Masaryk Cowan Community Centre, 220 Cowan Ave. (at Queen St. W.)

9 a.m. - Plenary session: "Strategic Approaches from the First 25 Years," with a panel discussion to be chaired by the Hon. Mary Hogan, former Director of Parkdale Community Legal Services. Panellists include: John Sewell, former mayor of Toronto; Michael Valpy, columnist for The Globe and Mail; and Judith Wahl, executive director of the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly.

10:45 a.m. - Morning workshops: "Legal and Service Delivery Needs." These workshops will identify key legal and research needs and examine unresolved legal service delivery issues for low-income citizens in Canada. Participants will attend one of 10 workshops over the course of the day, addressing one of the following issues in the context of poverty law:

immigration and refugees; housing and homelessness; human rights and equity; policing, violence against women; income support; worker's rights; aboriginal peoples' youth and elderly; disability and psychiatric services.

2:30 p.m. - "Forward Together," a panel discussion to identify common issues and lessons from other jurisdictions, and the legal principles that can be used to determine future service priorities and strategies. Chaired by Prof. Fred Zemans, Osgoode Hall Law School. Panellists include: Prof. Joel Handler,UCLA; Roger Smith, director, Legal Action Group (U.K.); Mary Marrone, executive director, Community Legal Education for Ontario, a clinic that produces legal educational materials.

4:30 p.m. - Open House, Parkdale Community Legal Services, 165 Dufferin St. (south of King St.).

A 25th anniversary dinner dance will be held at 6 p.m., Hollywood Nights, 1585 Dundas St. W. (Just west of Dufferin.) $30 per person, or $15 for students, community members, unemployed.

Saturday, Nov. 16

All events take place at Parkdale Public Library, auditorium, 1303 Queen St. W. (corner of Queen and Cowan).

9:30 a.m. - Plenary session and panel discussion: "Effective Responses to Service Delivery Needs."This session will consider the special needs of groups likely to be clientele of legal aid clinics over the next 25 years and develop collective long-term strategies. Chaired by Prof. Toni Williams, Osgoode Hall Law School. Panellists include: Margaret Gittens, co-chair, Commission on Systemic Racism in the Criminal Justice System in Ontario; Chris Reid, Barrister and Solicitor, Prof. Jennie Abell, University of Ottawa; Karen Andrews of the Mayor's Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues; and Mark Freamo, an AIDS community activist.

11:15 a.m. - Plenary Session: "Effective Representation in a New Environment". This panel will consider the social circumstances in which the clinics will function in the future, and will analyze ways in which legal clinics can better understand and serve the legal needs of the poor. Chaired by Toronto mayor Barbara Hall. Panellists include: Paul Zarnke, executive director, Family Service Association of Metro Toronto; Prof. Lucie White, Harvard University; Felicite Stairs, staff lawyer, Renfrew Community Legal Services; and David Walsh, director of Our Local Economy, a community-based coalition with a mandate to develop alternative economic policies that incorporate social justice.