Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
1 lawyer · Established 2001 · City of Toronto
One of 2,345 law firms listed in Toronto, and one of 369 handling Administrative & Regulatory Law.
About Income Security Advocacy Centre (ISAC)
The Income Security Advocacy Centre, known by its bilingual name ISAC (Centre d'action pour securite du revenu), is a specialty legal clinic established in 2001 in partnership with Legal Aid Ontario. It doesn't take on individual clients the way a private firm does. Instead it holds a provincial mandate to advance the rights of low income Ontarians in income security programs such as Ontario Works, the Ontario Disability Support Program, Employment Insurance, CPP and OAS, working through test case litigation, policy advocacy, community organizing and public education. Anyone who needs individual legal advice is referred to their local community legal clinic through Legal Aid Ontario.
ISAC is governed by a volunteer, fifteen person community based Board of Directors drawn from all four regions of Ontario, including clinic representatives and people with lived experience of poverty or disability. The clinic works closely with the network of community legal clinics across the province, along with anti poverty groups, academics and the private bar. Its litigation has reached the Supreme Court of Canada: ISAC intervened in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Kanyinda, decided in March 2026, a case addressing the section 15 equality rights of refugee claimant women.
Practice areas
Milestones & recognition
- Established in 2001 as a specialty legal clinic in partnership with Legal Aid Ontario, with a provincial mandate on income security programs.
- Intervened in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Kanyinda, decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in March 2026, a case addressing the section 15 equality rights of refugee claimant women.
- Appeared before the Divisional Court of Ontario in November 2025 in Bokhari v. Top Medical Transportation Services and the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, together with the Clinic Resource Office and Don Valley Community Legal Services, challenging the Tribunal's practice of dismissing complaints without an oral hearing.
In the community
- Works closely with the community legal clinics that make up Ontario's legal clinic system, as well as other anti poverty and social justice organizations.
- Supports the ODSP Action Coalition, a province wide coalition of community organizations and people with disabilities formed in 2002 to push for improvements to the Ontario Disability Support Program.
- In July 2022, ISAC issued a letter signed by more than 150 community organizations calling on the provincial government to double Ontario Works and ODSP rates, part of its ongoing Raise the Rates campaign.
- Makes annual submissions to Ontario's provincial budget process and the federal pre-budget process, including appearances at legislative committee hearings.
- Provides trainings and workshops on income security topics to legal clinic staff, accredited legal associations, community groups and members of the public.
Good to know
Wheelchair accessibleWho handles what
The neighbourhood
ISAC's office sits on the fifteenth floor of 55 University Avenue, a highrise at University and Wellington in Toronto's downtown core. That location matches how ISAC describes its own work: closely tied to Ontario's community legal clinic system rather than to a single neighbourhood's walk in clients. The building is on the University subway line at St. Andrew station and connects to Toronto's underground PATH network, useful for an organization whose work runs to provincial and federal budget hearings and Osgoode Hall rather than to storefront visits.
Frequently asked questions
- Does ISAC provide legal advice or represent individuals directly?
- No. ISAC is a specialty legal clinic with a provincial, systemic mandate, and it doesn't take on individual clients. Anyone needing legal advice or assistance is referred to their local community legal clinic through Legal Aid Ontario.
- What kind of legal work does ISAC actually do?
- Test case and appellate litigation, policy advocacy, community organizing and public education, all aimed at systemic problems in provincial and federal income security programs rather than individual disputes.
- Which income programs does ISAC focus on?
- Its work centres on Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program, along with federal programs such as Employment Insurance, CPP and Old Age Security, and low wage precarious employment more broadly.
- How is ISAC funded?
- ISAC is a not for profit, non partisan organization funded by Legal Aid Ontario, which also funds the clinic's website.
- How can a community group or clinic get involved with ISAC's work?
- ISAC partners with Ontario's community legal clinics, the ODSP Action Coalition and other anti poverty groups on litigation, campaigns and public education, and welcomes groups with a campaign idea to get in touch directly.
- Where is ISAC located?
- ISAC's office is at 1500, 55 University Avenue in downtown Toronto.
Where to find them
1500-55 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2H7 · 416-597-5820
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