The Ontario Law Commission was among the five recipients
Five organizations have been announced as recipients of grants from the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin Access to Justice Fund (McLachlin Fund) – the Law Commission of Ontario among them.
The grants total $729,609, and the recipients were selected from the fund’s 2024 funding call based on the overall strength of their applications and fit with the funding priorities. The five projects to be supported by the grants aim to improve access to civil and family justice in different regions across Canada.
The evaluation process prioritized proposals from under-represented and under-resourced regions.
The Law Commission of Ontario at Osgoode Hall Law School received $35,000 for its project “An Empirical Study to Improve Protection Orders in Ontario.” The project investigates the inefficiency of protection orders in preventing intimate partner violence and family violence in Ontario.
The project aims to develop concrete, principled, and evidence-based recommendations to enhance protection orders, reduce violence, and expand access to justice in Ontario. Extensive legal and policy research will be conducted, as well as stakeholder and survivor surveys, broad consultations, and an empirical assessment of protection order-related court decisions in Ontario.
The Association of Black Social Workers and African Nova Scotian Justice Institute received $276,500 for its project “African Nova Scotian and Black Family Group Conferencing and Family Justice Public Legal Education Series.” The project will focus on amending the child welfare system’s support of African Nova Scotian and Black children, families, and youth through culturally adapted Family Group Conferencing. The project will also offer public legal education to the African Nova Scotian community.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and National Right to Housing Network received $163,007 for its project “Youth-led Solutions for Housing Justice.” The project seeks to help develop solutions that protect the youth’s right to housing through youth-led forums and through leveraging mechanisms in the National Housing Strategy Act.
The Canada-US Border Rights Clinic at COMPASS Refugee Centre received $197,602 for its project “Empowering Migrants at the Canada-US Border: A Pilot for Legal Representation.” The pilot seeks to bolster access to justice for refugee claimants denied entry at the Canadian border under the Safe Third Country Agreement.
The University of New Brunswick received $57,500 to support the New Brunswick Advisory Committee on Access to Justice.
The McLachlin Fund made the grant recipient announcement on February 19.
