Law Clerk
Permanent– Full Time
Listed on CharityVillage
We are looking for an experienced Law Clerk to join our housing legal team who will
provide essential support to housing law practitioners, focusing on delivering accessible,
high-quality legal services to low-income clients. The role involves a mix of administrative,
client-facing, and legal tasks, supporting tenants in understanding and exercising their
rights while helping address housing insecurity and barriers to justice.
Please apply on charityvillage.com no later than Friday, December 12th, 2025.
This week, the Hamilton Police Services (HPS) released community alerts about a hate motivated assault against a transgender community member. This incident occurred in the early morning of Saturday, October 25 at approximately 2:30 a.m., in Hess Village. Although two arrests were made, police are still actively seeking information about additional individuals involved. We encourage anyone with information that could assist the police investigation to contact Detective Lyndsay Scott at LScott@hamiltonpolice.ca or 905-546-5678. Information can also be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Include images/screen shots from: https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/news/update-arrests-made-in-hate-motivated-assault/ Unfortunately, this is not the only recent hate motivated attack against a member of Hamilton’s Two-Spirit, trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse community that we are aware of.
Attacks against our local trans siblings are increasing in number and severity. This rise in hate is directly tied to the dehumanizing politicization of trans lives. In the United States, the Trump administration is implementing policies designed to erase trans people from public life. In our own country, the provincial governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta have invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to strip trans people of their fundamental rights protections. And in Hamilton, we’ve witnessed billboards calling for an end to gender-affirming care for trans youth and academic research designed to undermine access to gender affirming care. This growing climate of hate is having a real-life impact on the safety of our city for our trans siblings.
We stand in solidarity with our trans siblings, and we call on our allies and community leaders to stand up publicly for trans right and trans safety. We will continue to actively work with our local trans community members, partners, and allies to make Hamilton safe for all.
We encourage anyone who has experienced or been impacted by an incident of
transphobic hate in Hamilton to reach out to us for support and community resources.
Ever since the pandemic, landlords and tenants have seen increasing delays before the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). Landlords now wait months to get a hearing and tenants must wait years to get their applications heard. Despite the LTB hiring more staff to operate a digital-first approach to solving the problem, the delays persist and grow.
Bill 60 proposes a number of changes that are supposed to address delays at the LTB. However, some of them would actually add to the delays and all of them would take away tenant rights, including:
Other proposed changes include restricting the LTB in temporarily postponing evictions, defining “persistent late pay of rent” so as to reduce the LTB’s ability to grant relief from eviction, making it harder for tenants to set aside orders made without hearings, and removing one month’s rent compensation for tenants facing “personal use evictions” where four months notice is given instead of two. All of these proposals are aimed at tenants. None of these are necessary to achieve a more efficient tribunal.
The Landlord and Tenant Board operated much more efficiently in person before the pandemic. Landlords and tenants agree the common sense solution is to return to that method of adjudication. Trimming the rights of tenants as an alternative would be an injustice.
We are getting close to September 25, 2025, which is Franco-Ontarian Day. The Clinic’s French Language Services Team will be part of the morning celebration at the City Hall to witness the Franco-Ontarian flag being raised. Over 150 kids will be present to celebrate this important date so feel free to join us at City hall for 10am! We would also like to encourage you to wear white and/or green on next Wednesday to show your support to our community
Here is a short explanation of the symbolism of the day:
Not including Québec, the Franco-Ontarian community is the second community (after Acadia) to be granted an official flag. The flag has two colors: green to represent summer and white to represent winter. It also features a fleur-de-lys, the symbol of La Francophonie, and a trillium flower, the symbol of Ontario. The flag was raised for the first time on September 25, 1975 at the University of Sudbury, and the Franco-Ontarian community has celebrated its anniversary ever since. However, even though the flag has been in use since 1975, it only became the official symbol of the Franco-Ontarian community on June 21, 2001. September 25 officially became Franco-Ontarian Day in 2010.
This past weekend another digital billboard appeared in Hamilton calling for an end to gender-affirming care for trans youth. This is after a similar billboard was removed on the Mayor’s direction in August.
We are disturbed that these billboards continue to spread disinformation in Hamilton. The Canadian Medical Association, Canadian Pediatric Society, Children’s hospitals in Ontario, and the Greater Hamilton Health Network all stand together against care bans and in favor of gender-affirming care.
We are worried about the impact that this type of harmful messaging, displayed in our city, has on our local trans and gender diverse community members, especially youth. We know that attacking gender-affirming care for children is often a gateway to undermining the very existence of trans identities and lives. We believe in a Hamilton where trans and gender diverse individuals are accepted, supported, and celebrated.
What can you do?
Have you worked in Canada as a temporary foreign worker?
A class action was launched in September 2024 regarding “employer-tying measures” imposed on temporary foreign workers, including employer-specific or “closed” work permits.
For more information please visit: https://dtmf-rhfw.org/en/strategic-litigation/
PDFs are available on the website in English, French, and Spanish.
The problem
Every year, Canada admits thousands of individuals into the country under foreign worker status, many of whom are employed in private households and on farms. These individuals face one or more measures restricting their right to resign and change employers – such as employer(s)-specific work permits or standard work contracts with clauses tying them to a specific employer in the country.
If the employment relationship ends with the employer-sponsor (or group of employers-sponsors), the individual’s right to work in Canada is automatically revoked. As such, workers tied to their employers are radically hesitant to quit or take any action that could put their jobs at risk. This includes declining unsafe work, demanding the respect of the contract or reporting a right violation.
Since employer-tying measures impose such serious consequences on workers who quit or resign (such as the risk of not being able to renew their work permit), these workers de facto end up, according to North American jurisprudence, in a legal condition of servitude.
In broader terms, when foreign worker admission programs incorporate employer-tying measures, they result in the consolidation of an unfree labour system, characterized by the reduced applicability of human rights, employment, labour, immigration, tax and anti-trust legislations – and a diminished application of the Rule of Law.
The action aims to end measures that bind workers to specific employers and obtain compensation for the harms done by, on the basis that these measures constitute unjustifiable violations, in a free and democratic society, of workers’ fundamental rights to life, liberty, and security of the person, and not to be discriminated based on the country of origin, etc. (in Canada protected by the Charter of Rights and Freedom sections 7 and 15).
February is Black History Month—a time to honor the rich history, contributions, and resilience of Black communities in Canada. It is a moment to celebrate the progress achieved, reflect on the challenges that remain, and recommit ourselves to the ongoing fight for justice and equity. At Together We Rise (TWR), we are deeply committed to combating individual and systemic anti-Black racism and advancing the principles of equity and inclusion. Our work is rooted in the belief that justice is not a privilege but a right for every individual. Through collaboration with community organizations, we aim to support, empower, and amplify the voices of Black individuals in Hamilton. Our aim is to facilitate access to justice by connecting Black community members to essential legal services.
Submitted February 4, 2025 to councillors, the office of the mayor, and city city clerk.
Dear Hamilton City Councillors and Mayor:
RE: February 7, 2025 GIC (Budget) meeting & Hamilton Community Legal Clinic Partnership with the City of Hamilton
I am writing on behalf of our organization to express our concerns regarding two motions scheduled for a vote on February 7, 2025, at the General Issues Committee (Budget) meeting.
The specific motions I am referring to are as follows:
The City of Hamilton’s Tenant Support Program is at risk if these motions were to pass. The Tenant Support Program is a partnership between the City of Hamilton, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, ACORN, and the Housing Help Centre. This program came in effect after a unanimous vote of the Council in June 2024. The goal of this program has been to assist protecting tenants from bad-faith evictions. This is part of the City’s goal to maintain a stock of affordable housing and keep people housed, preventing an increase in homelessness.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic’s role in this agreement is to provide legal advice and representation to tenants and provide legal education to tenants across the City. In its original agreement with the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, the City of Hamilton identified that it expected that the Clinic would support 200 tenants per year. The program has been in place for approximately 6 months and has provided legal advice, representation, and support to 236 tenants.
If the intent of these motions are to remove funding from the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic because we were carrying out our mandate and that one of case involved litigation against the City of Hamilton regarding the encampment eviction case this is a concerning reaction. The motions are set to harm the Tenant Support Program which is entirely separate from the encampment litigation. None of the City of Hamilton’s funding is being used for the encampment litigation.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic has always been pleased to work with the City of Hamilton, and this program allowed us to provide additional support to tenants in areas of law that we have not previously had the financial capacity to offer. This program provides more services to vulnerable tenants and keeps more people housed.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic cannot abandon its core mandate by denying legal support to tenants who wish to challenge government actions. It is a fundamental aspect of our constitution and our democracy that people can challenge and test government action to ensure that governments comply with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
While currently aimed at the legal clinic, these motions will have far-reaching consequences that could silence organizations, groups, and individuals, instilling fear and discouraging dissent. This approach jeopardizes community engagement and limits access to justice, ultimately weakening the foundation of collaboration and advocacy that the City of Hamilton and our community relies on.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic has served low-income citizens in the areas of housing, injured workers, social assistance, employment and immigration for decades. We have also served our community through public legal education, and community development. We support other community organization in their efforts to keep tenants housed throughout the city. We will continue to do that work even if the City of Hamilton chooses to end this partnership. The impact on the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic will be minimal. The effect on the community of low-income tenants whose housing is threatened will be significant. More tenants will lose their housing and will become homeless.
We urge the Mayor and Councillors to oppose these two motions. It is crucial to allow the Tenant Support Program to continue. Additionally, we must avoid creating a culture of fear and reprisal that would deter community organizations, groups, and individuals from expressing their concerns.
Sincerely,
Clare Freeman, BA, MSW, RSW
Executive Director
(Hamilton, January. 22, 2025) – Yesterday, in partnership with the Community Legal Clinic of York Region, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic filed an appeal of the Dec. 23, 2024, decision of the Superior Court of Justice to dismiss the Application of 14 individuals who have experienced encampment evictions from public property.
The appeal was filed on behalf of the 14 individuals. We maintain that the evictions violated the 14 individuals’ right to life, liberty and security under Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They further violated the Applicants’ equality rights under Section 15 of the Charter, because the evictions had a disproportionate impact on women, people with disabilities, and Indigenous peoples.
Our legal team has undertaken a comprehensive review of the Court’s 15-page decision and found there to be many areas of profound concern that warrant an appeal and consideration by the Ontario Court of Appeal. These include the issue of whether individuals were evicted overnight, an adequate analysis of Charter arguments, and the acknowledgement of the disproportionate impact of evictions on women, people with disabilities and Indigenous peoples.
The Hamilton Community Legal Clinic will make the full appeal document open to the public here on our website once the Ontario Court of Appeal provides a copy issued by the Court.
While we cannot comment in detail on the appeal while it is before the Court, it is important to recognize why the appeal was necessary.
Encampments have become an increasingly common sight as communities across Ontario grapple with rising homelessness. The affordable housing crisis, skyrocketing rents, stagnant social assistance rates, and increased cost of living are all putting unprecedented pressures on our communities. Homelessness has become a crisis to which our shelter system cannot keep pace, and shelters have operated at or over capacity for years. The question then becomes: if people can’t afford rent, and the shelters are full, where do they go?
Systemic change and action from all levels of government is needed to address the shortage of affordable housing, the need for supportive and/or transitional housing, mental health and addiction resource gaps, increased shelter capacity and accessible shelter spaces. Encampments in parks are not the solution. How we respond to the issue of homeless encampments is a critical step in creating change that supports everyone in our community.
Court decisions play an important role in that process when they rule on what municipalities can and cannot do to stay within legal and constitutional boundaries to address encampments. When an error is made in that decision, an appeal is the next step, a necessary check point to ensure court decisions are right by law. In this circumstance, it’s a necessary next step in supporting how we address homelessness in our community.
Finding solutions to homeless encampments in our city parks requires compassion and respecting the rights of all – parents and children playing in parks, the housed, and the unhoused. Legal clinics across Ontario are mandated to ensure access to justice for individuals and families living at or below the poverty line, whose circumstances have legal merit to be addressed. Everyone has a right to feel safe; and everyone has a right to a cover over their head in the rain, the snow and the cold.
These 14 individuals also have a right to the appeal process.
We will provide updates as the litigation unfolds, including approximate timelines. We are hopeful that the appeal will be heard in the fall of 2025.
Transgender Awareness Week is an annual reminder to take action. We must advocate for our collective rights, educate the public about transgender people as well as the issues they face, and uplift the positive and insightful stories of trans people.
Transgender is an umbrella term encompassing a wide variety of different experiences and identities. People whose identity is different from the gender imposed upon them at birth may identify as transgender or trans.
Colonial language places people into boxes that may not fit who they truly are from a simple glance. Even the biological status most people indicate as being the binary male or female is incredibly complex and discards the wide spectrum of humans including those who are intersex. With different variables such as chromosomes, hormone prevalence, internal and external anatomy, and more – sex and its variance far exceed what people may initially have been taught to think.
Gender is just as open-ended. Under colonial rule it has been defined as the social roles and behaviors within the gender binary of man and woman. However, this definition centers the views, expectations, and assumptions of others.
While an individual’s experience of gender can include social roles and behaviors, it also includes cultural, and mental state of being. In terms of labels, this can mean identifying as female, male, both, neither, somewhere in between, and more. Instead of viewing gender from a strict binary set of rules set by others, gender in actuality, is how someone feels about themselves and how they experience the world.
Canada has seen an increase in transphobic ideology and attacks.
Anti-trans sentiments are not new to the country, despite the federal government moving to protect the rights of transgender people in 2017 with the passing of Bill C-16, making gender identity and expression a protected human right.
Over the past year we have seen political leaders falsely arguing that school boards were “indoctrinating” students about gender issues, Saskatchewan introducing a new law requiring parental permission for students to informally change their name and pronouns at school, Alberta’s proposal of Anti-Trans legislation, and more.
More recently and locally, a mural showcased outside at The Artist Inc in Hamilton was defaced in an intentional transphobic hate crime earlier this fall. The colourful mural by Ris Wong read “ Trans lives are sacred, Trans joy is sacred”. It was graffitied over with transphobic memes, then transphobic comments written in sharpie, and eventually the billboard was ripped all the way across. What was meant to be a sign of hope and love for many, became an example of the harmful, regressive anti-queer ideology locally and globally.
It is up to our so-called leaders to protect and instate the rights of our transgender community members. They must remember that creating a safe and inclusive Canada, Ontario, and Hamilton means stopping this hate at its source instead of perpetuating it further.
While policy makers, governments, world leaders and more must do their part, it is also important for allies to be a part of positive change, keep the trans community safe, and foster a sense of belonging. This means:
“Growing up in Hamilton, I have unfortunately seen my fair share of queer, gender, and race related hate crimes, harassment, and more. Before I came out, I feared what would happen to me if I was a visible trans person, and how that would affect my life in the city – as there weren’t as many accessible or safe spaces for me all those years ago. But as my dysphoria got worse and worse as I tried to bottle up all of my feelings, I could no longer wait for the world to be kinder. I made the brave decision to be scared and be my authentic self anyway.
I’m glad I did, because it saved my life. Even with everything going on, I wouldn’t want to be anything other than myself. I live authentically advocating for my community, especially for those who may not have the privileges I do, working towards a future where they don’t have to worry about what I did. I do it for the black queer and trans femmes, the trans people whose lives have been lost due to hate crimes, and I do it for the cis people who get misgendered and then assaulted because of transphobia – because it affects all of us. Local organizations like the Hamilton Trans Health Coalition, the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic, and more give me a spark of hope, but there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure the safety of the transgender community. I hope that one day Hamilton becomes a place of belonging, but until then – as we sit at the 3rd highest rated for hate crimes in Canada, I will continue to put in the work and ask others to do the same.
Trans lives matter.
Gender-affirming care saves lives.”
-Anonymous
The HCLC invites you to sit and think about your own internal and external biases surrounding gender and sex. How can you be a part of change, while making sure not to center yourself?
