On March 27th, 2013 the Faculty Council will be voting on two prospective clinic opportunities available to students this coming academic year. One of the proposed programs would allow two students to work at Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto (ALST) in a part time for credit clinic placement in one of two service areas: Legal Advocacy or Gladue Court Program.
This new opportunity would be a welcomed addition to the Faculty growing Aboriginal Law Program that has blossomed in the past few years. It will also give students a great opportunity to obtain first hand experience in the Criminal Law with Gladue reports and important advocacy exposure to systemically discriminated communities through administrative tribunals and pending test case litigation.
ALST also was essential in establishing the Gladue Court Program in Downtown Toronto. Aboriginal offenders sentenced under the Gladue principles will focus on alternatives to imprisonment in the form of diversion and counseling. ALST offers services to these courts through the writing of Gladue Reports and plan management that help judges determine the appropriate sentence.
ALST’s Legal Advocacy in recent years has moved to becoming involved in cases from the beginning. This can be within the scope of counsel to parties to the claim or as interveners at the lower court level. Over the past year, ALST has been involved in an upcoming Coroners’ Inquest as counsel to families of deceased First Nations youth from Northern Ontario communities who were educated while attending high school in Thunder Bay.
Not only is the work that ALST does interesting, the staff and clients are wonderful. Having worked at ALST in my 1L summer as part of a faculty sponsored fellowship program, I can honestly say this first hand.
More details on this potential clinic program have yet to be finalized. The Faculty Council will be voting on it’s enactment on March 27th.
