‘Very grateful,’ say Downtown Legal Services clients
Nexus/Spring 2022
by Nina Haikara
Theirs is a dream to live in Canada. Their reality today was made possible with the support of students and staff lawyers at Downtown Legal Services (DLS).
Luisa, sought humanitarian and compassionate grounds for her father, Armando, and Madinah, a applicant under the category of protected person.
Luisa arrived in Canada as a skilled worker. She studied law at the undergraduate level in her native country of Peru and did some work in legal matters as an assistant but never passed her country’s bar.
“I didn't know too much about the legal system here,” she says. “I didn't know about too much about refugee claims or humanitarian compassionate grounds.”
With some help from her local church and a lawyer who supported the church’s refugee outreach services, Luisa started a refugee claim for her father. She had consulted a few lawyers but could not afford their fees.
“But it was the wrong kind of application. Even the officer who denied the claim told me it should be humanitarian and compassionate.”
Luisa started gathering the paperwork, evidence and forms for an H&C application, but she was not convinced her father's application was sufficient. A Canadian friend asked her why she was doing it alone.
“At that point, I didn't even know there were legal clinics. I still considered myself a newcomer to Canada.
A friend told her about the free legal clinics that are available. They went to a clinic on Gerrard Street in Toronto. She was told that because he father was classified as a low income worker, he would qualify for the clinic’s services. But they couldn’t take on his case because they had too many applications to deal with.
“I took what I had filed, and the lawyer said it needed to be improved – not that my application was wrong, but it was poor in terms of presentation, evidence, other supports, and law citations – and so they recommended Downtown Legal Services.”
Luisa says that because of her legal education, she could imagine what was going on at the clinic, behind-the-scenes: Prasanna Balasundaram, who was at the time the refugee and immigration staff lawyer, was with the students at every step, giving advice.
“But I never saw that. Because the students were the ones who received us, and had meetings with my father and me.”
“I saw perfect teamwork. The students were professional, very dedicated. The way they put together a file – so organized!”
She remembers being impressed with the speed at which her father’s application was processed.
"We are both very grateful. Thank you to Downtown Legal Services for what you did for us, and for all the people who need you."
Through Amnesty International Madinah was referred to Downtown Legal Services for support in applying for permanent residence under Protected Persons and Convention Refugees.
“From my first impression, the service was excellent,” says Madinah, who, two years after first working with Downtown Legal, had her application approved and is now living and working in Toronto.
"I love Rachel [Bryce]. She is amazing. Emotionally speaking, it was like therapy. Sometimes we would have meetings and I wasn't functioning properly, and she was very patient. Prasanna was very patient taking into consideration my emotional state.”
Today Bryce is practicing refugee and immigration law with Landings LLP, a firm co-founded by University of Toronto alumni Warda Shazadi Meighen (JD 2009) and Erin V. Simpson (JD 2013).
“DLS is hands-down the best experience I've had at law school,” Bryce (JD/MPP 2021) told Nexus last spring.
“To me, DLS offers the perfect mix of advocacy, activism, client counseling and legal work. You get to do the work of an associate in your law school career – and that opportunity is unparalleled.”
Madinah doesn't know what she would have done without Downtown Legal Services. She adds staff lawyer Asiya Hijri also supported her in a very professional way and is an excellent lawyer.
“I had been going through a lot of personal challenges, and there was a lot of emotional support. Being in contact with me every week, via phone, or email, helped. I was lucky to work with them.”
*Names changed to preserve anonymity.
Nina Haikara is a writer and communications strategist with the Faculty of Law.
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You can help Low-income residents of Toronto like Armando, Madinah and so many others, in critical areas of law. At the same time, through its clinical legal education programs, Downtown Legal Services is also training the next generation of social justice lawyers.
DLS's budget is lean — almost all of it goes to personnel. Any significant cuts will force the clinic to reduce staff. Reducing staff will lead to a direct reduction in front-line legal services for vulnerable clients. DLS hopes to increase personnel and offer more summer student placements, to provide further access to justice within our community.