Board members share the goals of the clinic in serving the diverse legal needs of low income Hamiltonians. The Board is responsible to the community for the services provided by the clinic. The Board is also responsible to Legal Aid Ontario for the use of funding dollars.
If you are interested in serving on the board of the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, click here to read about the board member duties and responsibilities, and to submit an application.
Hina Saeed joined the HCLC Board of Directors in January 2015 and presently serves as Chair of the Board. Hina is an associate lawyer in the Hamilton office of Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP. Her practice involves all areas of employment, labour and human rights law. Hina received her Juris Doctor from the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor in 2013 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 2014. Prior to attending law school,Hina received her Honours Bachelor in Arts and Science with a combined Honours degree in Religious Studies from McMaster University. Hina has been very passionate about social justice initiatives throughout her life. She has volunteered for various non-profit organizations including Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, Amnesty International, Children’s Aid Society, Big Brothers & Big Sisters (GoGirls Program) and Inasmuch House for Women in Crisis.
Simon works in Hamilton as an information technology consultant. He grew up on the mountain and studied computer engineering at McMaster University. He has worked or volunteered with not-for-profit organizations serving equity-seeking communities since 2007. This has included work with the Hamilton Trans Health Coalition, Building the Archives, Public Health (City of Hamilton), the Hamilton Immigration Partnership Council, the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University, Information Hamilton, The (Original) Well, The 519 (Toronto), the Hamilton Positive Space Collaborative, the AIDS Network, and the Gender and Health Collaborative Curriculum project. Simon joined the Board of Directors in 2017 and sits on governance, fundraising, and ARAO committees. Reach him by email at simon _at_ hamiltonjustice.ca.
Kris Noakes is a citizen of the Anishinabek Nation, a member of Nipissing First Nation. She is a community advocate for Indigenous communities at the municipal, provincial, federal levels. She has served as both the Executive Director and President of The Indigenous Network Friendship Centre, building Indigenous services for the Peel and Halton regions for over a decade.
Kris has also volunteered supporting local initiatives through public appointments on equity, diversity and inclusion advisory committees with the City of Mississauga and the City of Brampton and the Museums of Mississauga Advisory Committee. Kris has also served as a member of the Region of Peel’s Homelessness Partnering Strategy Community Advisory Board (CAB), the First Nation, Métis and Inuit Advisory Circle for the Peel District School Board (PDSB), the Toronto Area Education Leads for the Aboriginal Education Office of Ministry of Education and a Director for Art Gallery of Mississauga.
She is currently focusing on access to justice initiatives through a federal appointment to the Ministry of the Attorney General’s Judicial Advisory Committee for the Greater Toronto Area. She is a member of the Indigenous Education Committee at the Brampton Court House and a member of Peel Dufferin Legal Aid’s Community Advisory Committee. Kris is a member of the Brampton Fire & Emergency Services Chief’s Community Engagement Panel, a member of the Board of Directors for the Centre Canadien pour L’Unité de la Famille and a member of Hamilton’s chapter of 100 Women Who Care.
A privacy manager passionate about data protection and privacy compliance, Kingsley is an IAPP-certified privacy professional with a background in operations, legal and corporate secretarial services and GRC (governance, risk management & compliance).
A graduate of Mohawk College, Hamilton, ON, with a PgD in global business management, Kingsley has a background as an internationally trained lawyer (and FLSC NCA Candidate) with extensive experience in a variety of in-house and external roles across technology/SaaS companies, insurance, regulated not-for-profits, finance, real estate, regulatory compliance, and oil & gas.
Kingsley is a bibliophile and lifelong learner interested in technology, privacy, AI, global trade, volunteering, and soccer. He is married with children.
Kelly Barker resides in Hamilton and is a lawyer and Ombudsperson. Kelly obtained her LL.B. from the University of New Brunswick and her LL.M. from the University of Ottawa. Following her call to the bar in 2009, Kelly started her legal career in policing and has since spent the majority of her career in child protection. Kelly began her position as University Ombudsperson for Brock University in February 2020.
David Quezada joined the Board of Directors in January 2021. He was born and raised in Chile and moved to Hamilton in 2017. David is the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Manager at the Burlington Public Library in Burlington.
David grew up during the time of the Chilean military dictatorship. His years in Chile and the social injustice he saw made an impact on him and he decided to study Human Rights law. Later he completed a Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation at the Centre for Justice and Peacebuilding in Virginia. He has been involved with diverse boards, committees, and non-profit organizations in Latin America, United States, and Canada.
His expertise is focused on restorative justice practices, psychosocial trauma/well-being, theories of reconciliation, and dignity.
Lisa is a professional regulation and workplace lawyer at GlickLaw, who has over a decade of governance and advocacy experience. Lisa completed a joint Juris Doctor/Master of International Affairs degree program in Ottawa in 2011. She then articled as a Judicial Law Clerk with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. Following her call to the Ontario Bar in 2012, Lisa practised labour/employment law, human rights and professional regulation in Toronto. Lisa eventually abandoned urban living for the mountains of Northern BC, where she worked as criminal prosecutor for several years and volunteered as an elected Bencher for the Law Society of British Columbia.
In 2022, Lisa returned to Ontario with her family and made Hamilton her home. Lisa has always been involved in her community and feels privileged to be a volunteer member of the Board for the HCLC, focused on increasing access to justice in her community.
Our clinic is staffed by community legal workers, support staff, community development workers, lawyers, and volunteers.
