Re: Mergers of GTA Legal Aid Clinics

Download our letter to Legal Aid Ontario, the Ministry of Attorney General, and the Steering Committee of the Transformation Project, expressing our concern about plans to merge and reduce the number of legal aid clinics in Toronto.

Text of the letter as follows:

To Whom It May Concern:

Re: Mergers of GTA Legal Aid Clinics

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.

Sincerely,
Law Union of Ontario