A project of: Generously funded by - CLEO Connect · 2014. 2. 21. · success story: the importance of connections 8 part i: an overview of connecting communities 9 the connecting

A project of: Generously funded by:

2 | Bridging language and distance for greater access to justice

Bridging Language and Distance for Greater Access to Justice

A program report prepared for the Law Foundation of Ontario on completion of CLEO’s Connecting Communities pilot

September 2013

Submitted by CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario / Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario)


Report Project Team

Vivien Green Connecting Communities Project Manager Contributing editor Dorene Weston Evaluation consultant Mariam Rashidi Connecting Communities researcher

Acknowledgements

Lisa Ferguson, PC Human Resources Consulting: draft developer, writer and design.

Cover image adapted from a poster design by Mike Kasperski, Matter Strategic Design | www.matter.to

http://www.matter.to/


TABLE OF CONTENTS BRIDGING LANGUAGE AND DISTANCE FOR GREATER ACCESS TO JUSTICE SEPTEMBER 2013

MESSAGE FROM THE PROJECT MANAGER 5

INTRODUCTION 6

SUCCESS STORY: THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTIONS 8

PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF CONNECTING COMMUNITIES 9 THE CONNECTING COMMUNITIES MODEL 9 THE SECRETARIAT 11 THE ADVISORY COMMITTEE 15 THE CONNECTING PROJECTS 17 THE PLE LEARNING EXCHANGE 21

PART II: PROJECT STORIES: SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES 23 FINDING STORIES 23 SUCCESS STORY: CHANGING THE WAY PEOPLE WORK 24 SUCCESS STORY: CONNECTING SILOS 25 EMERGING ISSUE: HUMAN TRAFFICKING 26 SUCCESS STORY: LEARNING FROM PARTNERS TO BETTER HELP CLIENTS 27 SUCCESS STORY: TRUSTED INTERMEDIARIES AS LINKS TO NEWCOMERS 28

PART III: LOOKING FORWARD 30 OPPORTUNITY: STRENGTHENING CONNECTIONS WITH RURAL COMMUNITIES 30 OPPORTUNITY: STRENGTHENING CONNECTIONS WITH ABORIGINAL PEOPLES 31

SUCCESS STORY: FORGING A NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH ELDERS 32 SUCCESS STORY: USING ABORIGINAL MEDIA 33

OPPORTUNITIY: ENHANCING ACCESSIBILITY 34

OPPORTUNITY: SUSTAINING THE PLE LEARNING EXCHANGE 34

PART IV: A FINAL WORD 35

APPENDIX 37 LIST OF FUNDED PROJECTS 37 LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT THE SAME AS LEGAL ADVICE 38 SAMPLE OUTREACH TOOL 40


MESSAGE FROM THE PROJECT MANAGER

It is with great pride that I present this program report on the Connecting Communities initiative at the conclusion of the three-year pilot. This initiative was generated out of both research and the lived experience of legal and community workers dedicated to increasing access to justice through legal education.

I can hardly believe that nearly three years have passed since we began this journey. Reflecting on what has been accomplished, and the energy and enthusiasm of so many people who have contributed to the development of Connecting Communities, I am impressed with how much ground we have covered.

I would like to thank the Law Foundation of Ontario for its strong support for the project. The LFO has demonstrated an understanding of the complexities of transforming a concept into a practical initiative and has shown its commitment to working with us as it has evolved. Thanks also to Carol Lee Smith, who crafted the initial proposal and has remained a constant supporter and invaluable consultant over the past three years.

I would like to acknowledge the amazing work being carried out across this province to bring knowledge of the law to front-line workers in interesting and engaging ways. While Connecting Communities has successfully helped some of this training take place, the ideas for the projects came from the many individuals working in community agencies, community legal clinics, settlement services and others.

This report attempts to bring to life our work of the past three years. Part I provides an overview of the Connecting Communities model including our governance structure and key activities, and highlights the project’s results. Part II gives a human face to the work, setting out stories that allow the voices of those who have participated in Connecting Communities to speak directly about their experiences. Part III looks to future developments and Part IV offers some conclusions and recommendations. As a snapshot of our work to date, this report incorporates some of the evaluation data that has been collected in advance of the formal evaluation at the conclusion of the project. Sincere thanks to all of those involved in developing and undertaking Connecting Projects for your time and effort in contributing to this report. Working in the non-profit community sector is an endless job, and we greatly appreciate the time you have taken out of your busy schedules to work with us on this document and offer your stories. And a special thank you to Advisory Committee members for your ongoing contribution towards the initiative. The work of Connecting Communities is rooted in the importance of enabling all members of our communities to understand the law and see it as a useful tool that can improve the quality of their lives. In the words of one Advisory Committee member, “Legal education is so important because it is about bringing both understanding and ownership of the law back to the community — making the law our own.”

.

VIVIEN GREEN, Project Manager


INTRODUCTION As we move toward the end of the three-year pilot phase of Connecting Communities, the project is thriving as a vibrant, unifying, and meaningful initiative. At Connecting Communities, we are heartened by the enthusiastic response to the initiative but realize that there is much more work to be done. So while the main body of report looks back at our achievements, we want to open by talking about the importance of the infrastructure and knowledge base that has been developed in the project. From the beginning, the Secretariat has adopted a proactive role in working with community and legal agencies to develop and hone their project ideas. As work progressed, the Secretariat has also become involved in identifying potential partners for agencies with training project ideas, including those that may operate beyond the natural arena of the originating agency.

Now with a bank of funded projects, the Secretariat can also work with new agencies to connect them with existing projects so that the original work is shared more widely. The knowledge base that has developed within the Secretariat about what makes a training initiative successful, about the types of partnerships that work well or not, and about the types of resources that promote learning means that we can help agencies develop better project proposals and make new connections.

The Connecting Communities model now enables:

Stronger proposals, as well as more effective training projects, through Advisory Committee

and Secretariat input and feedback ensuring projects meet local needs

Sharing of information about existing projects, so that new projects can build on what has

already been created and avoid duplicating work

Partnerships that otherwise would not have been created, including working with non-

traditional service providers as points of access for legal information

A common evaluation method for the projects from which common data can be collected to

build a knowledge base

Knowledge building and sharing through collaborative discussion among agencies involved in

legal information training

Development of best practices through thoughtful reflection about legal information training


We were approached by a group in London to be the legal partner for a project on housing issues. The Secretariat staff said, ‘A group in Toronto is already doing this work. Let’s not duplicate. Let’s just get them connecting.’ There is no use reinventing the wheel. That’s what the project is about – connections.”

Margaret Capes, Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton), Advisory Committee member On the next page, you will find a case study that illustrates how these aspects of the project come together. And as you read the balance of the report, we hope to show you these principles in action. In Part I of this report, we provide a short overview of the governance of the project and its operations. We also share details about the projects that have been funded to date. In Part II of the report, we let the projects speak for themselves with comments from participants about how the funding has helped them in their work and altered their practice.

In Part III we look at challenges and opportunities for the future of Connecting Communities, and Part IV gives some final words.


SUCCESS STORY: The importance of connections The Toronto-based Federation of Metro Tenants’ Association (FMTA) was funded to run a number of “tenants schools” for settlement workers and others working in immigrant communities across the Greater Toronto Area. As of June 2013, two sessions of the school have been completed, the first at Rexdale Women’s Centre and the second at Working Women Community Centre (both project partners). In April, a few weeks after the beginning of the second session, the Secretariat received a call from the coordinator of the Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) in London to discuss their idea for a Connecting Project. (The LIPs are local networks made up of a wide range of agencies working with new immigrants.) The group identified the need in their community for a training project in landlord and tenant law for settlement workers. The Secretariat explained that a similar project was already underway and encouraged the group to work with the existing project of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations (FMTA). The Secretariat identified a variety of ways that the London group could build on the work of FMTA in order to meet their own local needs while taking advantage of an innovative training project that was already underway with the same focus. FMTA’s Executive Director, Geordie Dent, and Connecting Communities staff travelled to London to meet with the steering committee of the local LIP, which included the Executive Direction of the local community legal clinic, Margaret Capes. This face-to-face meeting was an opportunity to share details about the Tenants School that the FMTA was offering to settlement workers in the GTA. As well, it was an opportunity for the London staff to talk about their local legal information training needs and their thoughts about the best format and strategy for training. In just two hours, a strategy for moving forward as a collaborative initiative was crafted. Shortly afterward, the Peterborough LIP contacted the Secretariat and identified training in landlord tenant law as its priority for a Connecting Project. Again, the Secretariat was able to recommend that the group work with a related training project already underway — the FMTA Tenants School. The Peterborough group is now working with FMTA to adapt the Tenants’ School materials and model while ensuring that the final product meets local needs and realities. Earlier this year, the FMTA’s Board had identified strengthening its links with communities across Ontario as one of its strategic directions — and through Connecting Communities, it did! This model of bringing an existing project — with its expertise and experience — together with a new group wanting to do similar work is an important new phase for Connecting Communities. Bringing these communities together has demonstrated that knowledge generated through Connecting Projects can be shared with, and built upon by communities across the province with the support of a Secretariat that has the capacity to facilitate meaningful linkages


PART I:

The Connecting Communities Model Commitment to collaboration is the foundation for effective and sustainable results... [W]e see a need to build partnerships or consortiums that share a common vision and are prepared to work together to make [an integrated system] a reality. Both legal and non-legal organizations expressed willingness to be part of that effort and we believe that the Law Foundation can play a key leadership role in fostering and supporting collaboration.”

Cohl and Thomson (2008), p. 55 (emphasis added)

Karen Cohl and George Thomson’s 2008 report to the Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO), Connecting Across Language and Distance, focused on

improving access to legal information and services for people who do not speak English or French or who live in rural or remote areas of Ontario. Its first recommendation was to form a consortium to improve the capacity of non-legal community organizations to provide basic legal information and referral to their clients. CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario / Éducation juridique communautaire Ontario) was funded initially to develop an organizational model for this consortium, and subsequently to implement the model: Connecting Communities. The three-year pilot initiative was intended to strengthen linkages between community and legal workers, and to build the capacity of front-line community workers, in particular those working with people who speak neither official language or live in rural and remote communities. To meet our objectives, the Connecting Communities initiative has supported the development of:

the “Connecting Projects,” legal information training projects approved for funding by the LFO, and

the Public Legal Education (PLE) Learning Exchange, a province-wide network for community and legal workers interested in public legal information.

Connecting Communities is managed by a Secretariat and guided by an Advisory Committee. The Secretariat is made up of a small staff team (see page 41 for staffing structure.) Secretariat staff provide guidance, consultation, and facilitation to the Connecting Projects and administrative support to the Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee to Connecting Communities is composed of legal and community workers with expertise in public legal education who represent key audiences for the project. Key roles of the Advisory

AN OVERVIEW OF CONNECTING COMMUNITIES

AN OVERVIEW OF CONNECTING

COMMUNITIES


Committee are to provide consultation and support to developing projects, offer analysis and reflection on learnings from the Connecting Projects, and identify promising practices and develop recommendations about legal information training. Figure 1: The Connecting Communities relationship map


Governance of Connecting Communities

The Secretariat The Secretariat provides staffing to Connecting Communities under the direction of a Project Manager. The Secretariat’s strong central support and facilitation roles have proven to be key to the success of the multi-party partnerships that form the Connecting Projects. The work of the Secretariat has focused on:

Outreach and promotion

Development and support of legal information training projects created by agency partnerships

Linking across communities

Creating opportunities for analysis and knowledge building.

Outreach and promotion

Connecting Communities was kick-started by outreach and promotions activities. This outreach was essential in raising awareness in the community of both the Connecting Communities legal information training projects (Connecting Projects) and the Law Foundation of Ontario. Many Connecting Project participants have told us that they would not have applied for a grant from the LFO without the outreach efforts of the Secretariat.

I would not have known about it.”

Darlene Angeconeb, Equay-wuk (Women’s Group) (project in development)

I probably would not have applied had I not met the Project Manager. She was coming to Thunder Bay, and she called me to ask if I wanted to meet.”

Beth Ponka, Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic (project in development)

Key outreach strategies the Secretariat staff have used to promote Connecting Communities include:

EXTENSIVE USE OF PRE-EXISTING NETWORKS Community legal clinics in Ontario Local Immigration Partnerships (LIPs), inter-agency networks established regionally across the province Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) Violence Against Women Coordinating Committees Networks of community health centres, Native Friendship Centres, libraries and women’s centres

SITE VISITS Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, Matawa Tribal Council and Thunder Bay Friendship Centre Sarnia: Local Immigration Partnership Niagara: Niagara North Community Legal Assistance, Folk Arts Multicultural Centre and Niagara Connects Barrie: Simcoe County Violence Against Women Coordinating Committee Stratford: Huron County Domestic Abuse Review Team and Huron Perth Community Legal Clinic


The success of these outreach activities is demonstrated by the diversity of the legal issues, needs and communities addressed by the training projects.

I think the projects represent the diversity of legal needs out there, and also emerging needs — there is a project responding to health care cuts, for example. I think that the law is very organic, and I think the project response needs to be organic as well, and needs to respond to all the emerging challenges that are coming up.”

Philip Ackerman, FCJ Refugee Centre, Advisory Committee

Project development and support

The Secretariat works closely with potential projects to help clarify and focus their project ideas. While some agencies come forward with specific ideas for training projects, others have only a general idea of training needs and require the assistance of the Secretariat staff to clearly conceptualize the training, identify potential community partners, and explore possible training strategies. Agencies are often interested in this initiative because it gives them new ways to successfully establish relationships with important community partners. As Secretariat staff work with applicants, new partner agencies are suggested, and in many cases these new partners have expanded the scope of the original agency’s work.

I have never encountered any situation where anybody has offered that kind of support. It is invaluable. It’s like you want us to be successful. This process of assisting us in the writing of the grant helps us focus. When you’re talking about ideas, ideas wander. You feel like the team is cheering you on, and that you’re going to succeed.”

Lisa Widdifield, South Western Anti-Trafficking Training Initiative

Connecting Communities Project Manager Vivien Green (right) pitches the funding program to participants at the OCASI Professional Development Conference in May 2011.

The first step in the development of a Connecting Project proposal is contact with the Secretariat. The Secretariat staff explain project criteria, including the need for at least two community and one legal partners, and the development process. The Secretariat Staff assist the applicants in writing a summary of the concept. A team of Advisory Committee members review this “concept summary” and their suggestions are integrated before the summary is forwarded to the LFO. The LFO uses the summary to determine whether the project is suitable to move forward to the full proposal stage. Once the LFO approves a concept summary, the project partners complete a project proposal; with further support and troubleshooting from the Secretariat (see Figure 2).


Figure 2: The project development process, highlighting the feedback loops

Linking across communities

The Secretariat has been successful in identifying new and non-traditional project partners for agencies who may have a great idea for a training project but have not been able to identify appropriate partners. In addition, the Secretariat staff have been able to connect people interested in similar areas of work to collaborate on projects; for example, two inter-agency networks from two different inner-city Toronto neighbourhoods who were both struggling with police harassment of marginalized youth were brought together because both were interested in training staff to better understand the criminal justice system.

Another thing that [the Secretariat] do is that they connect us a lot. I often get emails saying, ‘This person is interested in ESL,’ or ‘This person is working on this project. Can you please speak to them?’ That’s been very helpful, to be able to share knowledge that way, and to just be able to avoid duplication of work.”

Philip Ackerman, FCJ Refugee Centre, Advisory Committee member

Initial idea. Secretariat helps agency draft concept summary.

Input from two to three Advisory Committee members.

LFO approves concept summary. Proceed to writing full proposal.

If project approved, project identifies a rep to join the Advisory Committee.

Secretariat provides guidance and feedback. Lead agency sends funding proposal to LFO for final decision.


Opportunities for analysis and knowledge building

The Secretariat has organized opportunities for those involved in Connecting Projects to facilitate thoughtful reflection about the development process and their training projects. These opportunities for sharing of experiences, both anticipated and unforeseen, have been important in developing expertise and effectiveness in doing PLE and laying the groundwork for the development of best practices. The comments below from Connection Communities project leads illustrate some of the learnings they have identified. Examples of the learnings that have emerged the work to date are:

From Worker’s Action Centre: Karen Dick, Project Coordinator

Working with the Connecting Regions projects of Ottawa, Owen Sound and Belleville has been very helpful in planning and delivering our training workshops. The networks created in these three communities provided a seamless way to organize and deliver workshops to a large and eager audience given the many contacts within each network. The connections made possible through Connecting Regions provided us with invaluable agency contacts for future work.

We need to find ways to effectively identify community leaders who are “trusted intermediaries.” We found that it is not easy to identify the people who community members seek out for help, support and information. Particularly in marginalized communities where there can be a high level of distrust of mainstream agencies, there are strong informal networks. Within these networks, specific individuals take on leadership positions and become well-known as someone who plays a key role in transmitting information to the wider community. It is important to take the time to get to know a community, build trust and identify these trusted intermediaries. Often it can be the only way to actually reach highly marginalized people.

We have identified that it is increasingly difficult to find programs that operate in a language other than English. This has a serious impact on the ability of people without English skills to access information.

Community leaders have responded enthusiastically to our training, and we have seen people eager to commit their time and energy. However, maintaining the involvement of community leaders requires more resources than we anticipated. We have recognized that community volunteers need extensive support. In future, we would factor in more staff time for this.

And from the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations: Geordie Dent, Executive Director

We have recognized the importance of building advocacy skills and knowledge into the trainings. It is unfair and ineffective to give people legal information without providing information and strategies for exercising their legal rights.

In creating a training program, it is critical to incorporate authentic input into both the process and product by involving the target community. In doing this, it ensures that adult education principles are incorporated and the learning experience is as meaning as possible for the participants.


The Advisory Committee The role of Advisory Committee members is to:

Monitor and support the creation of legal information training projects, and

Analyze and learn from the projects to build and share new knowledge and identify relevant and related recommendations.

The Committee was originally made up of community and legal workers with expertise/experience in public legal education who represented key audiences of the Connecting Communities initiative. As Connecting Projects were funded, a participant from each lead organization was brought on board.

Monitor and support project development The Connecting Communities model is unique in that it offers feedback and support that benefits applicants in both the initial concept summary and subsequent proposal stages of project development, ensuring that projects respond to local needs and opportunities, as well as meet Connecting Communities criteria and the expectations of the LFO. Advisory Committee members give input to the conceptual development of a project as subject experts and from the perspective of the different sectors in which they work, for example, by sharing knowledge of available resources and other individuals and organizations that the proposed initiative might connect with.

I think that’s a very valuable process.…It’s really useful in terms of getting that diversity of perspectives in terms of whether the project will be a good fit for the Connecting Communities initiative.”

John Fraser, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation, Advisory Committee member

In the process, they get information that supports their own front-line work and helps them to see opportunities to establish new working relationships.

There hasn’t been an Advisory Committee meeting where I haven’t picked up something. And when you hear about people doing interesting trainings, you think, I have to follow up with them.”

Margaret Capes, Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton), Advisory Committee member

Knowledge building and knowledge sharing

Knowledge building and sharing are important extensions of the initial work in developing training projects. Learnings from the projects – training tools, resources, best practices – are analyzed and refined to

A Committee member on the value of feedback: “I found that the people who have been applying, because of the guidance provided, they’re so concrete in their project, they’re so down to earth, that they don’t write the proposal for the sake of money. You can see that there is homework behind it all. This is a benefit of the process that has been developed. It gives guidance to the projects. “You don’t have the great benefit [of this guidance] with other grants. “When you have people who are there for you, and guide you through the process, it’s not a competitive model of funding. That’s very proactive for the community, in terms of really facilitating the needs of the community. [The LFO should] keep that component of the project because it makes a huge difference, especially for small projects.”

Carolina Gajardo, COSTI Immigrant Services (Completed project with Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation and Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario)


contribute to building high quality training practices and forming new ideas about legal information training. This work extends the sustainability of the initiative, as learnings are shared with a broader audience. The Advisory Committee has supported the development of the PLE Learning Exchange, a province-wide network of workers interested in providing public legal education as an important vehicle to accomplish this information sharing.

AN ORGANIC DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:

At a January 2012 planning session for Advisory Committee members led by Liz Rykert (right) from Meta Strategies, participants met to review the structure of the initiative and come up with an action plan for the future.


CONNECTING PROJECTS

Figure 3: Mapping the projects across Ontario

You’re Right! It’s the Law!

Justice for Children and Youth

Location: Thunder Bay

NewHome: Realizing Housing Rights in Non-Official Language Communities

Centre for Equality Rights in

Accommodation (CERA)

Location: Province-wide

Learning Through Law: A Legal Information Training Project for ESL Teachers Across Ontario

Project partners: FCJ Refugee

Centre

Location: Province-wide

Reaching Out: Training on Employment Standards and Human Rights

Worker’s Action Centre

Location: GTA/Owen

Sound/Belleville/Ottawa

Consumer Protection Education for Rural Ontario

Community Law School

Location: Sarnia

Supporting our Families: Trans Parents and Family Law Information

LGTBQ Parenting Network

Location: South-Western Ontario

Community Capacity to Address Legal Needs of Low Income Chinese-Speaking Clients

Metro Toronto Chinese and

Southeast Asian Legal Clinic

Improving Access to Public Legal Information for Immigrant Communities in Ontario using Innovative Practices and Communications Technologies

Community Development

Council Durham

Location: Durham and York

Region

Loving our Children Without Fear: Understanding Child Welfare Law and its impact on the Hispanic Community

Hispanic Development Council

Location: GTA

Bathurst Finch Safety Training

North York Women’s Centre

Location: Toronto

Connecting Communities Tenants’ School

Federation of Metro Tenants’

Associations

Location: GTA

Greater Toronto Area

London

Thunder Bay

Sarnia

ONTARIO

*Agencies listed are the lead, and each work with other partners to carry out the project


Since October 2011, Connecting Communities has facilitated the development of legal information training projects by community and legal organizations. Grounded in the real-life experience of community workers, the projects have been developed using adult education strategies and provide high-quality legal information that increases community organizations’ capacity to better serve their clientele. Participants are encouraged to explore innovative methods to meet their training objectives. To date, 11 projects have been funded and the following figures provide a snapshot of these projects. See the Appendix for a complete list of projects. Part II of this report provides detailed stories about the experience and impact of these projects.

They’re excellent projects. People are thinking outside the box. It’s so healthy to see that everybody has the same desire to really change things for good for legal education and human rights.”

Carolina Gajardo, COSTI Immigrant Services, Advisory Committee member

Figure 4: Target communities

Connecting Projects have trained front-line workers who work with people who face barriers to accessing the justice system because of language (non-English or French-speaking) or distance (rural or remote areas of Ontario).


Figure 5: Training strategies used

A variety of innovative training strategies have been used, including workshop-type training. A number of projects used a combination of training strategies including web-based and face-to-face training.


Figure 6: Areas of legal training covered

Connecting Projects have targeted many of the priority areas of need identified in the Cohl and Thomson report. In a number of projects, more than one legal topic was covered.

Figure 7: Types of workers trained

*Includes employment counsellors, social assistance workers, credit counsellors, shelter workers, victim services workers and librarians.

A variety of people have been trained, including community workers, community leaders, community volunteers, and some not traditionally identified as conduits for legal information (taxi drivers, religious leaders, local businessmen for example).


PLE LEARNING EXCHANGE

The PLE Learning Exchange is an emerging network that brings together individuals across Ontario who provide PLE services. It offers a place for sharing research, tools, experiences, challenges and opportunities related to PLE. Insights from Connecting Projects are shared enabling others to use and adapt the work for their own communities. The Learning Exchange is a key link between Connecting Communities and its natural audience of front-line workers. A May 2012 “Symposium to Build a Public Legal Education Network” helped inform the development of the PLE Learning Exchange which includes a website www.plelearningexchange.com. The website features a rich set of resources grounded in front-line work and an active online community of people making connections, building relationships and learning from each other. The website has also provided a forum for a number of interactive learning opportunities including and a second symposium was held in June 2013 which brought over 65 community and legal workers together to share learnings, strategies and promising practices related to the practice of PLE.

Other interactive learning opportunities included: A virtual lunch and learn session on “Using PLE

as a tool for social action” A webinar on adult education principles and

their application to PLE. A video-conference on audism (discrimination

against the deaf and hearing impaired) (see story p. 34)

By supporting the development of this network, we hope that front-line workers will establish their own online community of practice to support their work. The PLE Learning Exchange creates a legacy for Connecting Communities.


I have used the learning exchange in my work…[It] is an opportunity for people who are doing great work to showcase it, and for others to gain support and learn from others.”

Rubaiyat Karim, Collaboration toward Action: Building Connections at the York Region Centre for Community Safety

I came to the symposium and I learned so much. In listening to the presenters that have already done the projects, I was so impressed by their innovative ideas of training, outreach, with the knowledge that they have to offer.”

Lisa Widdifield, South Western Anti-Trafficking Training Initiative

The symposium was helpful in strengthening networks. I also found it quite helpful in thinking about the role of the trusted intermediary, and some of the issues related to that concept, how best to work in that environment. And when you bring people together who are doing similar work, there’s always some nice energy.”

Barbara Williams, Bathurst Finch Women’s Safety Training

A July 2013 workshop for community workers in Niagara North to learn about opportunities within Connecting Communities.


PART II:

Finding Stories An Evaluation Committee, made up of members of the Secretariat and the Advisory Committee, has been in place since June 2011. This committee, working with our evaluation consultant Dorene Weston, has played a key role in creating the evaluation framework and evaluation tools for the Connecting Communities pilot. Different types of evaluation approaches are being applied depending on what is being evaluated. Aspects of developmental evaluation are used to guide and document the Connecting Communities model as it evolves throughout the duration of the funding agreement. Certain elements of the model, such as proposal development and the support of the Secretariat, have been consistent throughout, and so a process evaluation, which measures the effectiveness of program activities, processes and systems, is used to learn more about them. Over June and July 2013, a staff member of the Secretariat, Mariam Rashidi (who completed a student practicum with the project in its first year), carried out qualitative interviews with 11 participants to collect their insights.

Staff from community and legal agencies, from lead and partner agencies, from funded and proposed projects, Advisory Committee members, and others were asked to reflect on such issues as:

how strengthened connections and new relationships had benefited their work,

the experience of engaging in new partnerships,

the experience of working with the Advisory Committee and Secretariat,

the extent to which projects had helped front-line community workers,

how well projects represented the diversity of legal issues, needs and communities, and

the usefulness of the Learning Exchange.

On the following pages are the some of the many stories that emerged from these interviews. They demonstrate the impact the Connecting Communities initiative has had on linking community and legal workers, and on building the capacity of front-line community workers who work with immigrant and rural and remote communities.

PROJECT STORIES: Successes, challenges

and opportunities


Changing the way people work:

Profiles of 2 Participants Project: Reaching Out: Training on Employment Standards and Human Rights Status: Funded Lead: Workers’ Action Centre Partners: Parkdale Community Legal Services, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre Training: An intense five-day training in employment law to community leaders from 10 different linguistic communities

My experience with the leadership program was a very interesting one for me. I was initially scared about speaking in public and doing presentations. Participating at community events and workshops about workers’ rights issues has given me the confidence to speak about many of the issues I’ve experienced myself as a worker. It’s important that we let people know what we do at the Centre; how we help support our members to get out into the community to share knowledge on our rights at work.

I met with a group of women workers who attended our education workshop on their rights in the workplace. We discussed creative strategies to improve our conditions at work; we spoke about our rights in a social justice context. At WAC, we are committed to improving the lives and working conditions of people in low-wage and unstable employment. Part of the education was also about reaching out to people living this experience. I learned the ins and outs of what a leader should be, and I loved interacting with other members and debating our different views on all of the topics covered in the training. It is clearly evident (to me!) that the leadership program gave me the self confidence to provide significant information to people from my community. The leadership training really worked for me — I am still an active leader at WAC. Amelia participated in WAC’s Access to Justice Community Leader Training Program and co-facilitated two workshops in Scarborough on workers’ rights.

I attended and helped organize the Employment Standards and Human Rights Training for front-line workers in the South Asian community in Peel. As a front-line worker helping new arrivals in Canada and providing support for people looking for jobs, I feel it’s important that we have the tools and resources to support our clients who don’t know about their rights.

Tools designed to integrate into our existing programming have been very useful for myself and our staff. We also know who to call if a client is having a problem at work. As a result of the relationship built through this training, I organized two workshops on workers’ rights for over 60 participants in four ESL classes in Malton. This was organized through a community leader working with the Workers’ Action Centre.

Overall, I believe this has been a beneficial experience for all of us as we have built a lasting and supportive relationship.

Levine participated in WAC’s Access to Justice Employment Standards and Human Rights Training for front-line workers in the South Asian Community. As part of the second phase of the project, Levine worked with a WAC peer leader to organize and host two workshops on workers’ rights in Malton for the South Asian community.

Successes

AMELIA WHITE Community leader, WAC member

LEVINE RAKHRA Community leader, Malton Neighbourhood Services


Connecting silos Project: Connecting Communities Tenants’ School Status: Funded Lead: The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations Partners: Rexdale Women’s Centre, Working Women Community Centre, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, and Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services Training: Project provides in-depth training in tenant law for front-line community workers in communities with a high number of non-English/ non-French speakers

When the Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations (FMTA) approached Connecting Communities with the idea of a “tenant’ school” to provide in-depth training in tenant law for front-line settlement workers in non-English and non-French speaking, immigrant communities, Secretariat staff facilitated the necessary cross-sector links to make the idea a reality. The Secretariat connected FMTA, a non-profit organization that advocates for tenants’ rights, to three major settlement agencies with whom it might partner: Rexdale Women’s Centre, Working Women Community Centre and Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office. FMTA invited these agencies to meet with them, and the Secretariat followed up with encouragement and explanation. The meeting — an animated exchange of information and stories showing the urgent need for a tenants’ school — generated excitement about collaborating on a Connecting project. The settlement agencies’ staff identified over 150 potential participants for a tenants’ school. FMTA had previously developed content for a training for tenants and hoped its approach and materials would work for settlement workers. But when the settlement agency partners reviewed the materials, the “tore up” FMTA’s curriculum as it did not reflect the realities for many immigrants. The curriculum had not been developed specifically for new immigrants who don’t speak English or French, and changes were needed to meet the needs of settlement workers serving this population — different examples, different ways of looking at an issue, and different kinds of issues. For example, when these people seek housing, they may face

the added barrier of discrimination, so a module on this topic was added. While the FMTA was surprised by the extent of the changes needed — not so much to the content but to the examples and approach — it appreciated how valuable this step of working with settlement agencies had been to ensuring the training met the needs of participants. The process reminded FMTA of the importance of “working close to the ground,” of involving and listening to any community with whom they hope to work so that the work reflects that community’s needs.

Even before LFO approved the Communities Tenant School project, the new partners started collaborating. Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office asked FMTA to train people in one of their community programs and invited them to talk with a tenants’ group.

Response from settlement workers to trainings has been great, with many citations of new knowledge — for example; workers learned that it is illegal for a

landlord to delay routine maintenance. One helped a client and community to members pressure a landlord within one week to make repairs put off for over a year. When the landlord wouldn’t honour the 10 percent rebate due because of the delay, the worker again used her new knowledge of landlord-tenant law to help the tenants in making an application to the Landlord and Tenant Board. Workers have completed the program feeling knowledgeable and empowered, able to help their immigrant and refugee clients in ways they never could before.

Successes


Working with non-traditional service providers

Project: South Western Anti-Trafficking Training Initiative Status: In development Lead: At^lohsa Native Family Healing Services (At^lohsa means “friends” in the Onyota' a:ka language) Partners: Across Languages Translation and Interpretation Services, Coalition Against Trafficking in Persons (CATIP), comprising over 20 social service agencies, NGOs, and individuals, Windsor Essex Anti-Human Trafficking Action Group (WEFIGHT); and Legal Assistance Windsor (LAW) Training: Project will train local hotel and taxi company workers and other community service providers, in the law as it relates to trafficked people, the indicators of trafficking and available community supports

When partners in the South Western Anti-Trafficking Training Initiative held their conference call with members of the Advisory Committee, some committee members were surprised to learn that human trafficking is an issue in Ontario. In fact, according to The Alliance Against Modern Slavery, Ontario is home to the majority of foreign trafficking victims in Canada. Most trafficked persons are involved in forced labour, marriage and the sex trade. If funded, the anti-trafficking training initiative will train hotel workers and taxi drivers to recognize the indicators of human trafficking —a key step in identifying and helping victims. These people are often the only point of contact a trafficked victim has in the community. If the pilot training is successful, training will be offered to other non-traditional service providers throughout South-western Ontario. “This initiative is going to be a big educational piece that I think is going to be spread widely across the province,” says Lisa Widdifield, Outreach Coordinator at Across Languages Translation and Interpretation Services. The training will not only provide information on identifying trafficked

persons and how to respond to non-traditional service providers but also “help traditional service providers, such as shelter workers and victim service workers, understand the legal piece around related to immigration status.” The complexity of human trafficking along with changes being made to provincial laws relevant to the sex trade mean that knowledge coming out of work on the issue is “evolving incredibly quickly,” says Lisa, and must be continually revised and shared. “Knowing who else is doing what is helpful so that you don’t duplicate what’s already been done,” says Lisa. “Just connecting with (Secretariat staff), who has connected us with the people across the province who are doing similar work, has proven to be expanding for our work.” That initial conference call with the Advisory Committee helped with thoughtful feedback that made the proposal stronger. “For example,” says Lisa, “they asked us questions about safety, and we hadn’t thought of that.” Advisory Committee members came away from the process — just as community members will from the partnership’s trainings — with heightened awareness and deeper knowledge of human trafficking and community capacity to respond.

Emerging

issue: human trafficking

LISA WIDDIFIELD Outreach Coordinator, Across Languages Translation and Interpretation Services


Learning from partners to better help clients Project: NewHome: Realizing Housing Rights in Non-Official Language Communities Status: Completed Winter 2012 Lead: Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) Partners: Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), COSTI Immigrant Services North York Housing Help Training: Housing law information training for settlement workers across the province

The Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) is an Ontario-based non-profit organization that promotes human rights in housing and is dedicated to ending housing discrimination. One of the ways CERA carries out its work is through public education.

In the first funded Connecting project, CERA partnered with COSTI Immigrant Services (COSTI) and the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) to train settlement workers to better help their newcomer clients understand and protect their housing rights. Because the training sessions incorporated each partner conducting its own session related to its expertise, “the ACTO session gave me some new legal knowledge around the Residential Tenancy Act that I did not have,” says John Fraser, CERA’s former Program Director and Executive Director.

CERA provides legal assistance to people who are facing housing discrimination or who are threatened with eviction. But as John explains, “usually it is not just a straightforward case of a violation of the Human Rights Code. Usually there are other landlord–tenant problems, which usually fall under the Residential Tenancy Act. The more we know about the Act, the better we can serve our clients both in terms of referrals, but also giving them better advice.”

Carolina Gajardo, Program Manager of Housing Help at COSTI, also increased her knowledge of the law. “I’m a housing help manager. However, it doesn’t mean that I personally know everything about the law,” she says. “Being there, hearing my colleagues, was a fantastic refresher. Now I need to bring back this to the team to see if everyone remembers A, B, C and D.”

Since completion of the Connecting Project, CERA has developed its own project targeting the communities worked with. “When we did our outreach, we used the participants from the training sessions as our contacts in those communities, Windsor and London specifically, to help us get it up and running,” John says. Being part of a Connecting Project gave CERA the “huge opportunity” to reach out to organizations and individuals it had not previously worked with. “It really expanded our community network across the province. That must have been the biggest impact — allowing us to share the legal information that we have.” John expressed his appreciation that the Connecting Project allowed him, “as someone who has done a lot of public legal education” to step back and really analyze his practice: “It forced me to look more critically at public legal education and adult education, and how I conduct public legal education, and that’s been really valuable for me.” For example, he says, “I now go into a public legal education setting with a little more flexibility than I would have in the past. My work with Connecting Communities has helped me see the value in being ready to make some fundamental shifts in the direction of the workshop, based on where the audience wants to go.”

Successes


Trusted intermediaries as links to newcomers Project: Learning through Law: A legal information training project for ESL teachers across Ontario Status: Funded Lead: FCJ Refugee Centre Partners: Teaching English as a Second Language Ontario (TESL Ontario) and the Canadian Centre for Language and Cultural Studies (CCLCS) Training: For English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and school staff on legal issues that students encounter related to immigration and refugee law, housing law and employment law

Often, [people] need someone to help them define the problem, find the relevant information, apply the information to their situation, and make referrals to legal professionals who can advise and represent them in legal matters. For vulnerable people, this personal attention is essential, and they often need the additional support of a trusted intermediary. “

Cohl and Thomson (2008), p. 52 Non-traditional service workers — people who may not typically be recognized as “workers” or “helpers” — are often those who have the greatest access to individuals needing help and legal information. To offer people the help they need with problems that have a legal aspect, we must go to where they are and work with those they trust. Many non-traditional service workers speak about being bombarded with questions but being hesitant to respond, because they feel they do not know enough to provide answers and referrals. A legal information training project for English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers across Ontario is aiming to remedy that.

For those who have little knowledge of English, their ESL teacher may be the first person they ask for advice about issues related to immigration and refugee, housing and employment law. FCJ Refugee Centre has partnered with Teaching English as a Second Language Ontario (TESL Ontario) and the Canadian Centre for Language and Cultural Studies (CCLCS) to offer a workshop series for ESL teachers and school staff on such issues.

Before it received LFO funding with the help of Connecting Communities, FCJ had a long history of advising, counselling and supporting refugees and others at risk due to their immigration status, and a reputation for expertise in providing legal training and information training in issues related to immigration. But it had not had the time nor the resources to connect effectively with this important link to the newcomer community.

Successes

Why train ESL teachers? Just a few examples of students’ legal issues...

A student needed to break a lease to return to her country and didn't know if she was able to (she was expected to pay five months’ remaining rent).

Many students get stuck in gym or cell phone contracts. They haven't read the fine print, and have money taken from their accounts unexpectedly.

Students ask if they can work without a work permit, or about visa extensions.

On multiple occasions students have asked if they can simply get married to stay in Canada permanently.

Sometimes students are inexplicably charged for seeking medical help.


“This initiative has allowed us to bridge with a whole other sector that we’ve never done work with before,” says Philip Ackerman, FCJ’s Research and Resource Developer. “This has allowed us to reach a whole new audience, an important audience, an underserved audience.”

FCJ worked with TESL Ontario and CCLCS to tweak the information it was already sharing into accessible classroom resources for ESL teachers. Philip says this “translating the law into a tool” has been very useful in other areas of his work. “I think we have a better understanding of newcomer students, regardless of their immigration status, and the issues that they’re facing in accessing resources because of language barriers.”

ESL teachers who attend the training workshops will return to the classroom not only with new resources, but better equipped, and more willing, to help English language learners with basic legal information. Previously, says Philip, there has been “a lack of understanding on the part of teachers on how to connect students to [legal] information in their own languages.” As ESL teachers become more confident in their own understanding of what is possible — the constraints of the refugee claim process, for example — they are better prepared to answer questions from students. As Connecting Communities Project Manager Vivien Green says, “If training a non-traditional service worker — in this case an English teacher — will help people get the legal information or referral they need when they need it, Connecting Communities is really going to make a difference.”


PART III:

Over the past three years there the Advisory Committee, led by the Secretariat, has engaged in fruitful reflection and dialogue about what is important in legal information training. This collective learning has now brought us to the place of identifying future opportunities and directions for Connecting Communities. This section highlights some of the key areas of focus for moving forward.

Strengthening connections with rural communities Project: Consumer Protection Education for Rural Ontario Status: Funded Lead: Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton) (CLS) Partners: Pro Bono Students Canada, Community Legal Services at the University of Western Ontario, North Lambton Social Services and Lambton College Training: Consumer protection project for rural Ontario communities

Many interviewees agreed that Connecting Communities has made an impact in increasing access to legal information among its two target communities — people in rural and remote areas and people with little knowledge of English or French. Margaret Capes, Education Coordinator for the Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton) agrees, but says when it comes to rural communities, we could be doing more. CLS is the lead agency in the Consumer Protection Education for Rural Ontario project. With partners Pro Bono Students Canada, Community Legal Services at the University of Western Ontario, North Lambton Social Services and Lambton College, CLS is providing a one-of-a-kind training program for rural community workers in Southern Ontario. Connecting Communities approached CLS to submit a project application because of its work in this priority area of law in south-western Ontario. The project has allowed CLS to extend its reach to rural Ontario communities across Ontario by offering public legal education training on consumer protection issues of particular relevance to rural residents, by facilitating the development of Rural Community Advisory Committees in four regions for ongoing training and

LOOKING

FORWARD

LOOKING FORWARD

Opportunity


coordination of services, and by consolidating and sharing diverse forms of training materials in “a one-stop shop” toolkit for use by other rural communities across the province. “It is a good start,” says Margaret. “But the rural catchment area in this province is so vast, so you can never do enough.” With her experience as the project’s representative on the Advisory Committee and her organization’s knowledge of other public legal education projects running in the province, Margaret believes that “in general, we need to do more of a push for rural Ontario” — that is, ensure good proportions of projects for rural and remote communities and linguistic communities. “There are a lot of linguistic projects, which is awesome, but I don’t see a balance between the two.” Overall, Margaret feels that the Connecting Projects are representing the diversity of legal issues, needs and communities. “Secretariat staff have done an excellent job touring the province and connecting people in both categories — rural and remote, and linguistic minorities,” she concludes. “But this is just a start, and we have only scratched the surface. LFO should see the benefit of continuing the initiative.”

Strengthening connections with Aboriginal peoples Others have identified the need to recognize the unique ‘social and cultural barriers that Aboriginal people face in using legal information and education services, and to adapt these services in culturally appropriate ways to ensure Aboriginal people benefit from them.”

Cohl and Thomson, 2008 (p. 2)

Opportunity

“You can pick any area of law, and there are disproportionate effects on Aboriginal peoples,” Beth Ponka of Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic says. Over-representation in the criminal justice system, human rights issues such as changing matrimonial property laws and ever-evolving law in the area of Aboriginals’ status and sovereignty make the legal information needs of Aboriginal communities exceptionally pressing. “I think we need to do better,” says Carolina Gajardo, Program Manager of Housing Help at COSTI Immigrant Services, based on her recent work in rural and remote communities including Sioux Lookout. “I don’t see the First Nations minority languages. If we’re thinking of partnerships with that population, how are we going to bring information to them?”

http://yourlegalrights.on.ca/resource/consumer-protection-toolkit-remote-mail-and-telephone-agreements


Forging a new relationship with elders Project: Listening and Learning: A Community Legal Information Training Project Status: In development Lead: Thunder Bay Friendship Centre Partners: Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic and Human Rights Legal Support Centre Training: Providing information to Aboriginal elders on social assistance and legal rights

A project currently in development is a good example of promising, culturally appropriate initiatives in Aboriginal communities. Through a partnership with the Thunder Bay Friendship Centre and the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic is shaking up the role, and thinking, of elders. There are great opportunities for learning about the roles of trusted intermediaries from Aboriginal communities. Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic has identified that elders, recognized indigenous leaders, are a important resource. The Clinic recognizes there are great opportunities to work with elders “as conduits of information and build capacity in people to be able to address some of their problems.” Training sessions will equip elders not only to provide information about resources available in the community but also help community members identify when a problem is actually a legal or human rights issue. Kinna-aweya’s Beth Ponka explains: “It’s become obvious to us and other agencies that people don’t seem to have a very good understanding that their problems have remedies, that there are resources available to them, that they have the right to enforce their rights.”

The Connecting project has given Kinna-aweya the unique opportunity to talk to and connect with elders “on a new level.” The initiative intends to meet with and bring together elders’ groups to discuss how to apply critical thinking to identify legal issues. “I don’t think it’s been done before,” Beth says. “I think will be really beneficial for them and for the community.” Beth says elders she has talked to are excited about the project. “It’s been food for thought for them to think about their role as leaders, the professional responsibility they have. This [project] formalizes the relationship they have with people in terms of validating their roles and responsibilities in the community and the role they can play in helping people have access to justice and remedies to problems in their lives.”

Opportunity

Photo courtesy of Kinna-aweya Legal Clinic


Using Aboriginal media

Project: Increasing Our Knowledge, Building On Our Strengths Status: In development Lead: Equay-wuk (Women's Group) Partners: Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services, First Step Women’s Shelter and Wawatay Native Communications Society

Training: Project will train Aboriginal elders and community workers, on violence against women and human rights, specifically criminal and family law and entitlement programs

Equay-wuk Women’s Group, a unique non-political women’s group in Treaty No. 9 territory, usually translates materials into Ojicree, derived from Ojibwe and Cree, because speakers of the two dialects can understand it. It’s an expensive undertaking though. “When the resources [from our proposed project] are put together,” says Equay-wuk’s Darlene Angeconeb, “they’ll have to be translated. That’s a budget item that I have to add. It’s expensive — like one hundred dollars a page.” Equay-wuk is developing a Connecting project with Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services, First Step Women’s Shelter and Wawatay Native Communications Society to train Aboriginal women elders and community workers on legal information related to violence against women and human rights. Regardless of whether or not materials developed are translated, they will be “a different kind of resource that is applicable to the Northern communities,” says Darlene. “Some of the resources from the South don’t work up here.” Resources must be culturally appropriate, Darlene explains. “[It] has to be written in a certain way, and it has to take into account the culture, as well as some of the practices of Northern communities. Say, on an agenda, we’re always going to have an elder at the beginning of every workshop for an opening prayer, which is a little bit different than what they do in mainstream society.” Equay-wuk also incorporates Aboriginal history into all of its materials. “We talk about what has happened since contact with Europeans,” Darlene says. “It puts everything into perspective and shows people why things are the way that they are right now.” Having Wawatay Native Communications Society on board for a Connecting Project gives Equay-wuk, Nishnawbe-Aski Legal Services and First Step a great forum for increasing the reach of the legal information on which they will collaborate. Its bi-weekly newspaper, Wawatay News, for example, reaches over 80 First Nations across Northern Ontario and Aboriginal people living in the region’s towns and cities. Equay-wuk already has a weekly one-hour radio program (in Ojibwe and Ojicree) on Wawatay Radio Network, which reaches over 30,000 Aboriginal people across both the Nishnawbe Aski Nation territory, Treaty 3 area. The broadcast is also streamed online. The project will include the development of radio scripts to be given to participants for broadcast in their communities. “Every community has a radio station,” says Darlene. Radio is a particularly appropriate media, as one recommendation from CLEO’s 2006 linguistic access research was that audio adaptation of culturally appropriate English materials into Aboriginal languages could be a helpful supplement to print materials. Using indigenous communications to engage Aboriginal audiences “is the best way to advertise our project and get the word out on any issue or topic,” Darlene concludes.

Opportunity


PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH THE PLE LEARINING EXCHANGE

Enhancing accessibility The Canadian Hearing Society was funded to host PLE Learning Exchange workshops The Canadian Hearing Society and the PLE Learning Exchange have used video-conferencing technology to host half-day webinars (via CHS offices in Toronto, London, Belleville, and Ottawa) that have increased interest in removing barriers to legal services for people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.

Presenter Gary Malkowski, CHS’s Special Advisor to the President, Public Affairs, says the workshops have resulted in increased contact from community legal clinics across the province and from the province’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre, which provides advice and legal help to people who have experienced discrimination contrary to Ontario’s Human Rights Code. CHS has also been working with the Law Commission of Ontario, which recommends reform measures to make the law accessible.

The workshops successfully implemented Cohl and Thomson’s (2008) recommendation of using videoconferencing to train front-line workers, but ironically the CHS webinars, meant to combat discrimination or prejudice against people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, are not accessible now that they are being shared on the PLE Learning Exchange website. As Cohl and Thomson noted, “New technology shows great promise... [but] technological supports are not an end in themselves and do not work for everyone.”

“Online is a challenge” regardless, says Gary, but the fact that the posted webinars are not closed captioned means, “Deaf and people hard of hearing are not able to participate.” As for the website itself, “there’s definitely room for improvement on user navigation. I think those are opportunities to enhance access.”

Supporting the PLE Learning Exchange

[Y]ou can have 10 solid projects… the projects can be great, but the law changes every day… There needs to be a sustainability plan. “

Margaret Capes, Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton), Advisory Committee

The first Connecting project wrapped up almost a year ago, but the new public legal education knowledge it generated is still making an impact on the organizations involved. “Already it’s going to be three years [since we started], and we continue using the materials as trainings,” say COSTI’s Carolina Gajardo. “The material is such a good tool to train new workers in the field so they can provide accurate information to clients.” But to ensure the “legacy” and long-term value of the projects, the training materials they have generated will need to be updated as laws change.

GARY MALKOWSKI Special Advisor to the President, Public Affairs, Canadian Hearing Society

Opportunity


PART IV:

CLEO’s Connecting Communities project has demonstrated the value of innovative legal education projects in enhancing front-line workers’ abilities and confidence in providing responsible information to people who are often excluded from the legal process because of the barriers of language and distance. We are confident that the Connecting Projects are making the law more accessible and understandable and are making a difference in the lives of people in the community. Two key areas for more attention in the future include the important role of community leaders. In many communities, particularly those that do not speak English or French and where people may be coming from countries where authorities and institutions are seen as oppressive, there is a fear of seeking out “services.” In these communities it is all important to identify those community members who are seen as leaders — such as elders and deacons in the church — and support them in gaining knowledge. The potential benefits of working with community leaders are great, and long-term, as this will develop strong and vibrant communities. We have a number of projects that include this focus — and we hope to see more coming. The need for more attention to rural and remote communities continues to be an important focus for future work. Rural and remote communities make much more use of social networks, interpersonal connections and informal links. Although this means it can take longer to identify key community leaders and understand a community, projects that work with community leadership have significant impact on communities because the work is coming from trusted sources. Stakeholders have enthusiastically identified the need for the work of Connecting Communities. Their primary concern is to push for ongoing attention to ensure that the quality training projects being developed are maintained and continue to be used to build and share knowledge. As well, they strongly support enhanced outreach to rural

A FINAL WORD


and Aboriginal communities so that the important work of increasing community capacity regarding legal knowledge can be continued and broadened to all communities. CLEO is excited that Connecting Communities has proven to be an example of an innovative approach to meeting critically important community needs. By enabling workers and community to gain a better understanding of what the law is and of the issues facing people from rural and remote communities and/or newcomers who do not speak English or French, the model has changed the way people work and helped communities make the law their own.

Connecting Communities has made an impact. When I look at the projects going through, I see that people are about to connect and share their expertise, which is so important in a climate like now, with all the funding cuts and organizations closing down. It’s so important for us not to have this competitive environment. This project is connecting people’s expertise, and driving a community-based response to the needs out there.”

Philip Ackerman, FCJ Refugee Centre, Advisory Committee member


APPENDIX

List of funded projects

NewHome: Realizing Housing Rights in Non-Official Language Communities

Project Partners: Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA), Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO), COSTI Immigrant Services, North York Housing Help

Webinars for settlement workers on housing Consumer Protection Education for Rural Ontario

Project partners: Community Law School (Sarnia-Lambton), Pro Bono Students Canada, Community Legal Services at the University of Western Ontario, North Lambton Social Services, Lambton College

Consumer protection training for rural community workers through face-to-face workshops

Reaching Out: Training on Employment Standards and Human Rights

Project partners: Worker’s Action Centre, Parkdale Community Legal Services, Human Rights Legal Support Centre

In-depth employment and human rights training for community workers and community leaders in immigrant communities in Toronto, Ottawa, Owen Sound and Belleville through a series of face-to-face workshops with follow-up community activities

Connecting Communities Tenants’ School

Project partners: Federation of Metro Tenants’ Associations, Rexdale Women’s Centre, Working Women Community Centre, Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office, Kensington-Bellwoods Community Legal Services

A tenants’ school for settlement workers and those working in immigrant communities in the Greater Toronto Area (six three-hour workshops)

Supporting our Families: Trans Parents and Family Law Information

Project partners: LGTBQ Parenting Network—Sherbourne Health Centre, Rainbow Health Ontario, Downtown Legal Services

Training in family law, in relation to transgendered parents living in rural and remote communities using peer support networks through face-to-face workshops/discussions

Learning Through Law: A Legal Information Training Project for ESL Teachers Across Ontario

Project partners: FCJ Refugee Centre, TESL Ontario

Training TESL workers in schools on immigration and employment law through face-to-face workshops, conference presentations and web resources

Enhancing Community Capacity to Address Legal Needs of Low Income Chinese-Speaking Clients

Project partners: Centre for Information and Community Services of Ontario, Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast

Asian Legal Clinic,Toronto Chinese Community Social Services Association

Immigration law for Chinese settlement and outreach workers through face-to-face workshops using the structure of the Chinese Inter-agency Network and training two community mentors

You’re Right! It’s the Law!

Project partners: Justice for Children and Youth, Thunder Bay Multicultural Council, Urban Aboriginal Strategy, Thunder Bay Friendship Centre, Human Rights Legal Support Centre

Training in youth criminal justice law and education law in the Thunder Bay area. Involving youth workers themselves in all areas of the project, art and social networking will be used as a medium in face-to-face training workshops along with web-based trainings

Improving Access to Public Legal Information for Immigrant Communities in Ontario using Innovative Practices and Communications Technologies

Project partners: Community Development Council Durham, Ajax Immigrant Welcome Centre, Pickering Immigrant Welcome Centre, Durham Community Legal Clinic

Training front-line grassroots workers and trusted intermediaries on social assistance with a focus on Welcome Centres (hubs for those working with immigrant communities) through face-to-face workshops that are shared through video-conferencing technology

Loving our Children Without Fear: Understanding Child Welfare Law and its impact on the Hispanic Community

Project partners: Hispanic Development Council, Catholic Children’s Aid Society, Children’s Aid Society of York Region, Centre for Spanish Speaking People

Training community, social and youth workers, as well as leaders in the Hispanic community on child welfare law through 10 training modules offered in group workshops focusing on various aspects of child welfare law

Bathurst Finch Safety Project

Project partners: North York Women’s Centre, Downsview Community Legal Services, METRAC, the Bathurst Finch Community Hub

Training staff in criminal justice and immigration law as it relates to domestic violence through a full-day session and series of small group dialogue sessions at community hub


Legal information is not the same as legal advice A fact sheet developed to explain the difference between legal advice and legal information for use by project participants.



Sample outreach tool A postcard describing the benefits of Connecting Communities.

The Secretariat team Staff Vivien Green Project Manager

Part-time staff Tope Adefarakan Project Associate Olga Berg Administrative Support Mariam Rashidi Researcher

Social work students (completed a field placement with Connecting Communities) Sara Clarke 2012-2013 Lisa Hunter 2012-2013 Sam Morsey 2011-2012 April Stevens 2011-2012 Mariam Rashidi 2010-2011

Bridging Language and Distance for Greater Access to Justice A program report prepared for the Law Foundation of Ontario on completion of CLEO’s Connecting Communities pilot

September 2013 For more information: Vivien Green, Connecting Communities Project Manager [email protected] | 416-408-4420 ext. 835

Documents

A project of: Generously funded by - CLEO Connect · 2014. 2. 21. · success story: the importance of connections 8 part i: an overview of connecting communities 9 the connecting