This past weekend, the City of Hamilton experienced two deeply troubling hate- motivated events.
On Saturday, February 21, Hamilton Police Services (HPS) reported that a woman experienced an unprovoked, hate-motivated assault in the downtown core. The woman was standing on a public street in the area of Augusta Street when she was approached by an intoxicated man who verbally harassed her using derogatory language and struck her in the face. HPS reported that a 28-year-old male was arrested and charged the following day.
On Sunday, February 22, white supremacists held a demonstration in front of Hamilton
City Hall. The demonstration involved 19 masked men, dressed all in black. They performed a Nazi salute while displaying their group’s flag and a banner. HPS reported that police attended the area, but the demonstrators had dispersed by the time officers arrived.
For both events, HPS is asking anyone with information to contact police at 905-546-4925, or to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-888-222-8477, if they wish to provide information anonymously.
Unfortunately, neither of these incidents is isolated. Violent incidents of hate targeting individuals based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and religion have been increasing. Fascist, white supremacist ideology is becoming more visible in our city, with its supporters feeling emboldened to promote their presence and their message in our public spaces.
We are deeply concerned about the impact this rise of hate in our city has had on those who have experienced it first-hand and those who have been targeted by its messages, particularly newcomers and racialized community members.
We stand in solidarity with all Hamiltonians who condemn these acts of hate, including our civic leaders and partners, and we remain committed to creating a Hamilton where everyone can live without fear and with a sense of belonging.
We encourage anyone who has experienced hate, been impacted by hate, or who has information about a hate incident to reach out to us and our partners for support and community resources.
Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week is an annual, week-long event held to raise awareness and educate people about the identities and issues aromantic people face.
Aromantasism is an identity that sits under the “ace” umbrella. The prefix “ace” is defined as the absence of attraction. It is the opposite of “allo”, meaning “to have attraction”.
There are many different forms of attraction, some include: platonic, romantic, sexual, sensual, estetic, alterous, and more! Ace people may have some, or total absence of attraction in one or more of the attraction categories.
Under the romance category of this split attraction model people may identify as aromantic, alloromantic or somewhere in between.
In other words, “Aromanticism is a romantic orientation, which describes people whose experience of romance is disconnected from normative societal expectations, often due to experiencing little to no romantic attraction, or sometimes feeling repulsed by romance or being uninterested in romantic relationships.”
The aromantic flag consists of five equal horizontal stripes. From top to bottom they are: Dark green and light green representing the aromantic spectrum, white representing platonic love and friendships, and lastly grey and black representing the sexuality spectrum.
Green was chosen as the primary colour due to it being the opposite or red, which is often associated with romance.
“Amatanormativity: Amatonormativity is the assumption that a central, exclusive, romantic relationship is normal for humans, and is a universally shared goal.”
Due to misinformation and stereotyping, many aromantics have felt the repercussions of both invisibility and bigotry in and outside the queer community due to amatanormativity.
As a result, there are many social and legal hurdles aro people face globally.
Amanormativity in law negatively affects rights including, but not limited to:
Sources:
Black History Month is a time to honour, celebrate, and reflect on the rich history, resilience, and contributions of Black communities in Canada and around the world. It is an opportunity not only to recognize past achievements but also to acknowledge the ongoing struggles against racism, discrimination, and systemic inequities.
As we celebrate Black History Month, we reaffirm our commitment to equity, inclusion, and access to justice. We must continue to challenge anti-Black racism, amplify Black voices, and create spaces where Black communities are respected, supported, and empowered.
Let this month be not only a moment of remembrance but also a call to action—toward meaningful change, solidarity, and a more just future for all.
January 21, 2026
To our Funders, Partners and the Hamilton Community,
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am writing to announce the retirement of our Executive Director, Clare Freeman, effective January 23, 2026.
While Clare has spent the last four years leading our organization, her retirement marks the conclusion of her 24-year career of continuous non-profit leadership within the Hamilton community. Throughout more than two decades of service, Clare has dedicated her career to improving the quality of life for those in crisis.
We thank Clare for bringing her talents, experience, and passion to her leadership at the Clinic, ensuring access to legal services for low-income individuals.
As we look to the future, the Board will be initiating a comprehensive search for a new Executive Director to build upon this strong foundation. In the interim, we are pleased to announce that our Director of Legal Services Michael Ollier and our Manager of Client Intake and Community Programs Lindsay Beckham will share the Executive Director role.
Sincerely,
Hamilton Community Legal Clinic/Clinique juridique communautaire de Hamilton
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).
