West Scarborough Community Legal Services

About West Scarborough Community Legal Services

West Scarborough Community Legal Services is a non-profit legal aid clinic that has been funded by Legal Aid Ontario since 1988 and is one of two legal aid clinics covering Scarborough. It helps low income residents who live east of Victoria Park Avenue, west of Midland Avenue, and south of Steeles Avenue East, and who qualify financially, mainly people whose main income is Ontario Works, ODSP, Old Age Security with the Guaranteed Income Supplement, a War Veterans' Allowance, CPP, or a temporary WSIB claim. Its casework covers employment insurance and workers' rights, human rights, social housing and TCHC issues, ODSP and Ontario Works appeals, CPP disability, Old Age Security, immigration law, and residential tenant matters. It doesn't take on criminal, family, real estate, refugee, or personal injury cases, referring those instead to private lawyers or other Legal Aid Ontario services. Staff can assist clients in Bengali, Arabic, Farsi, Tagalog, Mandarin, Spanish, Tamil, Urdu, and French, as well as English.

The clinic is a non-profit corporation run day to day by lawyers, community legal workers, paralegals, students, and volunteers, under a volunteer Board of Directors elected annually by its membership. Any Scarborough resident 18 or older can join as a member or stand for the board. Beyond individual casework, the clinic has helped organize neighbourhood coalitions, including Voices of Scarborough and Power in Community, working on issues like affordable housing, rooming houses, and social assistance reform in the community it serves.