Aboriginal Legal Services is now providing criminal and child protection services to Indigenous clients in Toronto. ALS has long advocated for funding to provide much-needed representation to adults and youth facing charges under the Criminal Code and to parents whose children are involved with child protection agencies.
The mass incarceration of Indigenous people is a crisis in Canada’s legal system and is getting worse. Statistics Canada reports that in 2017/2018, Indigenous adults accounted for 30% of admissions to provincial/territorial custody and 29% of admissions to federal custody, while representing approximately 4% of the Canadian adult population. The situation is even worse for youth (43% of admissions to correctional services, while representing about 8% of the Canadian youth population) and women (making up 42% of the women admitted to custody.)
Similarly, Indigenous children represent approximately 30% of foster children in Ontario, even though they make up only 4.1% of the population. According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Indigenous children are over-represented at all points of child welfare decision-making.
In this context, there is a vital need for the kind of trauma-informed, culturally safe and culturally relevant legal services that ALS provides. By providing these services within ALS, clients can also address other legal issues they may be facing, such as housing or human rights matters, as well as easily access ALS programs such as the Giiwedin Anang Council and Gladue services.
The program, funded by Legal Aid Ontario, started in January 2023 and ALS now has two criminal lawyers and one child protection lawyer. Because navigating court processes can be overwhelming, the lawyers work closely with ALS’ Indigenous courtworkers.
The ALS Advocacy program does general intake in-person (at #500 – 211 Yonge Street) and by phone (416-408-4041) on Mondays and Wednesday from 10:00 – 3:00 and on Fridays by phone from 10:00 – 1:00. Intake for criminal law matters is in person or by phone 10:00 – 3:00 on Tuesdays. Child protection intake is 10:00 -3:00 in person or by phone on Thursdays.
Emily R. Hill (she/her)
Senior Staff Lawyer