MOTIONS AND LETTERS AGAINST CLINIC MERGERS
Statement by the Law Union of Ontario:
"The Law Union of Ontario (LUO) writes to express its concern regarding the proposed merger of seventeen independent community legal clinics in the GTA into a few mega-clinics. In particular, we are concerned that this amalgamation does not reflect a model of community lawyering that responds to the needs of low income people. We call on Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) and the Province of Ontario to ensure access to justice by providing increased funding to existing community legal clinics in catchment areas with high levels of poverty. Additionally, any major clinic transformation should only occur after meaningful, extensive, and widespread consultation with clinic users and low-income communities." Find full letter at: http://www.lawunion.ca/ Excerpt from OPIRG Toronto's letter: "Rather, we believe that increased funding is needed in areas that are reflective of community needs. As poverty rises in Toronto, cuts to service, space and staff are entirely unacceptable. Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) and the Province of Ontario must instead ensure that existing clinics are adequately resourced with enough lawyers, community legal workers, and administrative staff to deliver services to the GTA’s diverse communities."
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Excerpt from Kensington-Bellwoods' (KBCLS) Letter:
"We feel that the Transformation Project is imposing a delivery model from above and has not reflected community needs or expectations. We believe that we cannot impose such large changes on our community without them defining and agreeing to the changes to be made. We also fear that the proposed large clinics are doomed to become bureaucratic, hierarchical and inflexible." "In reality, all clinics are under resourced relative to the actual legal needs of low income people." KBCLS' Motion: “The Board is unable to endorse any of the proposed models because they do not reflect the community based service model that responds to the needs of our clients.”
Excerpt from Graduate Students Union, U of T (UTGSU):
"The UTGSU writes to express its deep concern over the amalgamation of 17 independent community legal clinics in the GTA into 3-5 larger clinics. Community legal clinics provide essential legal services to marginalized and low-income communities and therefore have the opportunity to develop significant and lasting relationships with the communities to which they belong. Eliminating these clinics destroys this crucial interaction. Furthermore, the accessibility of these services will be greatly reduced, making the clinics far less effective than they are now."
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