ARCH: A LEGAL RESOURCE CENTRE FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
2001 - 2002 Annual Report

Table of Contents

1.	President’s Report: by Sandi Bell, dated May 21, 2002

2.	Executive Director’s Report: by Phyllis Gordon, dated May 21, 2002

3.	Audited Financial Statements, March 31, 2001 (distributed separately)

4.	ARCH Member Groups

5.	ARCH Staff

President’s Report
May 21, 2002

I must begin my Chair’s remarks with heart felt thanks to a number of people who have made my time as Chair enjoyable.  Actually, my entire report is sprinkled with appreciations, as little could be accomplished and this Chair would have very little to report were it not for the contributions of the entire ARCH team – staff and board members. 
The first thanks goes to the former Chair, Kathleen Haswell who did not hesitate to take  the leadership role when there was a brand new board at ARCH in 1999.  She helped to establish mechanisms through which ARCH could rebuild itself and she modeled how an effective Chair should operate which made my following in her shoes much easier.  I also want to thank you Kathleen, for not just sitting back with your feet up in your role of Past Chair.  Instead, you took the lead on undertaking a comprehensive review of ARCH’s policies.  We will miss you as you leave the board and hope your future endeavours are rewarding. 

Next, I must thank each Director on the Board for placing faith in me to act as your Chair and your commitment since the last AGM.  We have carried a full agenda but your hard work and dedication to persons with disabilities made the task far more gratifying.  
A look at my daily diary points out the impressive number of meetings we attended.  Beyond ‘taking care of business’ through those meetings, this work provided board members with opportunities to grow, learn, and gel further as a team.  While we had some turnover on the board due to personal and professional obligations, we found excellent replacements in Warren Morris and David Allen.  We also had people of a wide range of backgrounds place their names for consideration to the Board of Director. 

ARCH is in a very healthy financial state, through the skilled hands of our Treasurer, Jerry Ford.  Additionally, we have successfully pursued our usual funding opportunities.

Marian MacGregor, our Secretary and Nominating Committee Chair, is stepping down.  Marian thanks for educating me about the day-to-day operations of a clinic system.  Your knowledge of the clinic system; your general wisdom; your sense of humour; your “secretarying”…  Good luck in both your personal and professional pursuits.  We will miss you. 

While speaking of those board team members who are leaving, we will also miss Marilyn Warf.  How can we ever replace Marilyn?  However, we know that she is setting out on some wonderful adventures in her life as a retiree and she has certainly made her contribution to persons with disabilities.  Thanks for your excellent contribution to the board and for representing northern Ontario so effectively.  Bon voyage, Marilyn.

My next expressions of loss are much different.   There was a significant and very sad event that took place in the past year that must be noted. 2001 was marked by the passing of someone who had been supportive of ARCH, and of the community we serve, in so many ways.  Rod Walsh, legal counsel to the Ontario Association for Community Living, and a former ARCH Board member, passed away in November of 2001.  We all miss Rod’s wisdom, compassion, and good humour.  A fund is being established in Rod’s memory, and his friend and colleague, Orville Endicott, will tell us more about this is just a few minutes.  Thank you for coming Orville, and thanks for keeping the memory of Rod alive for each of us.

My next expression of gratitude goes to staff who never cease to amaze me by the gifts they bring to ARCH and their untiring pursuit of the betterment of the lives of persons with disabilities.  Early in the morning; late at night; and weekends or holidays, one may find ARCH staff busy at work.  
While I could speak for an hour or so about each member of staff, time permits me only to underscore how particularly privileged I have felt to work with the Executive Director, Phyllis Gordon, who has completed her first full year in that post.  She has provided incredible leadership and directions while engendering a true team spirit at ARCH.  Working with her and getting to know her has been one of the highlights of my work as Chair of ARCH.

We continue to work on behalf of 60 member organizations as well as persons with disabilities in Ontario generally, through ARCH’s superb test case litigation, responses to law and policy development, public legal education and community development.  Phyllis will address these areas further, but I want to share something I learned when reviewing some of our accomplishments.  I was astounded to learn just how active staff has been in just one segment of its work - the area of public legal education.  We distributed 10,023 copies of different Public Legal Education and Information material last year and 4,964 so for this year.  As this represents about ten percent of ARCH’s work and considering the small staff at ARCH, I am sure you will agree that we have some seriously busy beavers.  
We were fortunate to hire some exceptional Articling Students who, I believe, received a great deal in return for their wonderful contributions to ARCH and the community of persons with disabilities.  Thanks to each of you.

The Strategic Planning process has been enlightening as it took us ‘on the road’ to consult with constituents around the province. We were genuinely blessed with the insightful leadership of Fraser Valentine, the skills of staff and board members of that committee and the dedication of an ED who attended every consultation from Thunder Bay, to Windsor, London, Ottawa, Hamilton and the two in Toronto.  You will hear more about what we did and what we learned a bit later when Fraser gives his report, but I want to publicly thank him too for the ‘gazillion’ hours he gave in this endeavour.

And, if all of these and other urgent day to day matters were not enough, we started looking for a new home – A new Lease was Negotiated – Staff packed, packed, packed – Staff made the big move and managed to live amongst boxes while continuing to complete the regular work.  I am pleased to report that our new home is accessible - (the building; the offices; a washroom and even the boxes that are still hanging around are usually placed in a manner that allows for access by those of us who ambulate with some sort of assistive device).  There will come a day when all the boxes have a home too, when the new shelving arrives.

Another exciting aspect of the move has been that it will help us move toward getting our Resource Centre up and running – it is going to be an invaluable resource for the community. 

One of the unique challenges of being Chair of a legal aid clinic has been trying to understand Legal Aid Ontario, the other over 70 general and specialty legal aid clinics, and how we fit together as a unit.  I cannot claim to have achieved full understanding, but I certainly have a far better comprehension of the differences and similarities between a general and specialty clinic; the funding formulae and what is expected of us as clinics; how LAO maintains communication with clinics; and it incorporates clinics’ views into operations.  ARCH responded to LAO’s consultations in such areas as Funding Agreement, Dispute Resolution Policy, and, Consultation Policy. 

I was selected by LAO to be a member of their Training Advisory Committee which is engaged in reviewing current training opportunities within the clinic system; eliciting input from staff and board members about our learning preferences and needs; and recommending some training approaches for the future.  The committee hopes to have a report by the end of summer.

Sitting on that committee has been a great chance to meet people from other clinics and learn more about how we are similar and different.  One thing has been very clear: we are all dedicated to poverty law and social justice.  
Yes, it has been very busy fourteen months on the board of ARCH.

I shall conclude my comments by repeating my expressions of gratitude to each member of staff and members of the Board of Directors who have given unselfishly of their time and talents to the betterment of ARCH and the community of persons with disabilities. And, thanks to other volunteers who have a variety of skills and give unselfishly of those talents and time.  Thank you to member organizations and each person who has taken the time to be here this evening.  It has been a pleasure and privilege to work with you.  I have learned and grown in many new ways during my tenure as Chair.  Thank you for the opportunity to do so.

Respectfully submitted,

Sandi Bell
President

Executive Director’s Report

May 21, 2002

We have been very busy at ARCH since our last Annual General Meeting.   Board members and staff have been working steadily.  This is a committed group of people who bring energy, talent and expertise to their work.  We work in a collegial environment with the shared vision of defending and advancing the equality rights of persons with disabilities and promoting full social justice for persons with disabilities.  As the following report will demonstrate, we do so in many different ways. 

When I wrote my last report we were still planning our community consultation meetings.  They have now taken place.  I wish to thank the many people from around the Province who came to talk to us about our services.   It certainly was a wonderful orientation for a new executive director to meet so many individuals who know a lot about ARCH, about the disability movement and about what is needed.   The strong message we received is that the work we do is essential and useful.   We also heard that how we do our work can be improved.   My own focus over the next term will be to strengthen and support what we do well, and, to develop and implement changes where needed in accordance with our recently adopted strategic plan. 

I wish to thank the Board of Directors of ARCH for their continued hard work, support and encouragement.  There are many times when the commitment of these volunteers has been nothing less than inspiring.  As well, I wish to congratulate the staff on their tremendous output and contribution to advancing the interests of persons with disabilities.   The summary advice and referral staff have continued to support many hundreds of individuals this year.  Their difficult and unsung work needs special recognition.  
I want to express our appreciation for the support of our community legal clinic colleagues who share our concerns and provide service to persons with disabilities around the province.  Legal Aid Ontario has generously supported our relocation for which we are very grateful.
This report is really a listing of what we have achieved this year.  We look forward to continuing these activities, to developing our resource centre and to planning more successfully, so that the impact of our efforts may be more effective.

Organization Developments And Initiatives

The Community Consultation has occurred, the report of the consultation is posted on our website and the strategic plan has been written and adopted.  We look forward to its implementation.

We have moved to spacious, bright and more accessible ground level offices.  Many thanks to Legal Aid Ontario for its support in this endeavour.  
We are a provincial organization.  Last year we reported on the steps taken to make this aspect of our work more effective.   It seems that as we work to make our own organization more provincially representative, we are also developing links and connections in the province which will assist the community of persons with disabilities generally.

Our website is www.arch-online.org.  It is now updated on a regular basis.  Our next step is to use the website as a public legal education resource more effectively.  We will soon be dedicating more time to this initiative. 
We have decided that the publication of ARCH TYPE in its full magazine  format is not feasible given our other undertakings.  We have fewer staff than at some points in ARCH’s past and do not have resources to focus on publishing a magazine. ARCH ALERTs, our electronic newsletters (available in hard copy as well) are an effective alternative because the articles can get distributed more immediately and are therefore often more topical. 
We will continue to assess our summary advice and referral service.  We have heard from the community that it is an essential service, but we are all too mindful of the difficulties caused when we slide back into a call-return backlog. 

This coming year we will be hiring a resource centre director and look forward to many new initiatives around this part of our work. 
We are happy to welcome Doreen Way, our new Office Manager.  Doreen brings many years experience and background with the legal clinic system and much skill and talent.   She is committed to making ARCH as effective as possible and is taking the lead on the improvement of our administrative infrastructure.
Bill Holder has joined ARCH as a staff lawyer and has already contributed a great deal to our litigation work and our public legal education program.   We feel very fortunate to have attracted someone with so much experience in human rights and disability law.

Stephanie Marinich is completing her articles with ARCH presently.  We have enjoyed Stephanie’s excellent contribution as well as her consistent good humour.  Ruth Goba has just finished her articles with ARCH.  We thank Ruth for her similarly wonderful contribution and long hours. The law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has again sent us an articling student for a three-month rotation.  We welcome Adina Schwartz, who has already been working at ARCH on weekends.  We also are very fortunate that Karen McCulloch has chosen to round out her articling experience in a disability rights office and joins us for two months. 

Litigation Highlights 

Workers Compensation / Chronic pain

In 2001, ARCH was invited by an inter-clinic working group to participate in strategic planning with respect to a Nova Scotia workers’ compensation appeal, which was headed to the Supreme Court of Canada.  This case (Laseur) involves a Charter challenge to a provision of the Nova Scotia’s workers’ compensation scheme that arbitrarily limits compensation for chronic pain disability, despite medical evidence of the permanent nature of the condition. The inter-clinic group considered this an extremely important case for workers with disabilities across Canada in light of the relentless campaign by governments and employers to restrict workers compensation benefits in all provincial jurisdictions.  ARCH agreed to serve as counsel to the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Group (ONIWG), the largest provincial organization in Canada representing injured workers, in seeking leave to intervene in this appeal.  ARCH successfully obtained intervener status on behalf of ONIWG which is the only intervener speaking on behalf of workers with disabilities before the Supreme Court.   The ONIWG factum was filed on May 8, 2002.  No hearing date has yet been scheduled by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Immigration  
ARCH represented Angela Chesters as co-counsel in an action in Federal Court (Trial Division) challenging the constitutionality of s.19 (1)(a) of the Immigration Act.  The trial took place January 7-25, 2002 and we are still waiting for the decision.  We were assisted by Ron Poulton, an immigration law specialist, through Court Challenges support. This case is a Charter challenge to the “medical inadmissibility” provision of the Immigration Act. If successful, this case will have far reaching impact on persons with disabilities seeking to come to Canada and especially on families with dependent disabled members.  The case received a great deal of media attention.

Taxation / Accommodation

ARCH is participating in two similar, but separate cases that involve human rights and Charter challenges to the Income Tax Act.  In these cases, the claimants received grants, which were available to students with a permanent disability who are in need of “exceptional” education-related services, or, equipment to enable them to perform daily activities necessary for their participation in study at the post-secondary level.  The claimants, who are both deaf, received these bursaries to purchase accommodation services in the form of sign language interpretation.  Revenue Canada takes the position that the amounts received by the disabled students are “income” within the meaning of the Income Tax Act and that this funding must receive the same tax treatment as all other scholarships and bursaries.  ARCH seeks to establish that persons with disabilities face systemic discrimination because the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency fails to integrate equality principles in its tax policy and ignores the high disability related costs incurred by students with disabilities in pursuing post-secondary education.

•	Scott Wignall complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and ARCH  represented the Council of Canadians with Disabilities as an intervener in his case.   The Tribunal dismissed the complaint and we are now representing the CCD as Intervener in the judicial review before the Federal Court.   In the second case, we are representing Scott Simser before the Tax Court of Canada.   The trial is set for June 20-21, 2002. 

•	In another tax matter, ARCH is acting on behalf of three national disability organizations who have intervened in a Federal Court of Appeal judicial review in a disability tax credit matter.   The case, Buchanan, involves the right of a taxpayer with a disability, or who has a dependent with a disability, to obtain the DTC where a health professional has completed the form improperly. The case was heard on May 15, 2002 and we are now waiting for the decision of the Court.
Transportation

ARCH is serving as co-counsel with the Hamilton Mountain Legal Services Clinic on behalf of two complainants in a Human Rights Board of Inquiry. The case involves allegations regarding inadequate paratransit services provided by the City of Hamilton and DARTS, as well as the Ministry of Transportation.  The hearing is still in a preliminary stage as the respondents are resisting filing pleadings.  We are awaiting the Board of Inquiry’s decision on preliminary motions.

Education 

ARCH is co-counsel with Legal Assistance Windsor in three Ontario Human Rights Commission complaints about discrimination and harassment in education services.   The student, who is our client, has been denied adequate school supports and the education assistants’ union has filed an Occupational Health & Safety complaint.   The complaints are against the School Board, the Union and the Ministry of Education and are in their early stages.

Special Needs Agreements/Supports

•	We are in the early stages of case development in a case involving the failure of government to provide adequate funding for the needs of children with developmental disabilities. 
•	We are also continuing the long battle against discriminatory criteria for the funding of incontinence supplies.  Our clients had two previous complaints against the Ministry of Health for discriminatory criteria in funding incontinence supplies. That case was settled prior to a Board of Inquiry hearing in 1997.  However, the Ministry of Health then contracted out the service to West Park Hospital in 1998, which continued to apply discriminatory age criteria.  Dickson Circle counsel unsuccessfully sought to enforce the settlement by way of a Motion for Contempt.  Subsequently, ARCH filed reconsideration submissions with the OHRC and is awaiting a decision of the Commission.   In March of 2001, the OHRC initiated its own new complaint against the Ministry of Health and West Park challenging the restrictive criteria.   ARCH, on behalf of our clients, has filed four new complaints alleging on-going discrimination by the Ministry of Health and West Park Hospital. 
Law Reform Highlights

ARCH staff participated on many on-going committees, both within the clinic system and external to it.   Clinic committees include:

•	The Journal of Law and Social Policy Editorial Board,
•	The Steering Committee on Social Assistance
•	The CPP Working Group

Staff participated on the following standing committees:

•	The Equity Advisory Committee of the Law Society of Upper Canada 
•	The Human Right Lawyers Breakfast Group
•	The Mental Health Legal Committee
•	The Disabled Liaison Unit Steering Committee of the Toronto Police Services Board
•	The Ontario Coalition for Fair Access to Home and Community Care
•	The Social Policy Committee of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities

ARCH was involved in a number of consultations and presentation with governments and other organizations including:

•	ARCH made both a written and oral submission to the Standing Committee on General Government on the Personal Health Information Privacy Act, 2000 (Bill 159).

•	ARCH made a written submission and supported the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) in their oral submission to the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly on the Public Hospitals Amendment Act (Patient Restraints), 2000. 

•	ARCH made representations to the Subcommittee on the Status of Persons with Disabilities.  One presentation was on disability income programs with an emphasis on the Canada Pension Plan and the other was on the Disability Tax Credit.

•	ARCH made a written submission on Accessible Transit Services in Ontario to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

•	ARCH was consulted by the Roeher Institute with regard to the Law Commission of Canada’s initiative on Close Personal Relationships.

•	ARCH was consulted by the Ontario Association of Community Living in a forum on the criminal justice system and persons with intellectual disabilities.

•	ARCH supported Criminal Code amendments extending procedural and evidentiary protections to victims of the offence of sexual exploitation of a disabled person. 

•	ARCH joined other organizations representing person with disabiliities to achieve a fairer Disability Tax Credit test.

•	ARCH was consulted by the Director General of the Employment Equity Branch of the Canadian Human Rights Commission with respect to the Employment Equity Act consultation. 

•	ARCH made a deputation on the impact of the proposed 2002 City of Toronto Budget on persons with disabilities. 

•	ARCH participated at the Future Directions Conference organized by the CCD held in April 2002.

Public Legal Education Highlights

•	ARCH co-sponsored National Access Awareness Week programs with the Law Society of Upper Canada in 2001 and 2002.

•	ARCH participated at workshops at the Ryerson Community Building Course.

•	ARCH participated in the Law Society of Upper Canada program on Advising People with Disabilties and their Families on estate and future planning.

•	ARCH presented a paper on the economic model of disability utilized by the Courts at the National Association of Women and the Law Biennial Conference. 

•	ARCH was a panel member at a conference with Treasury Board and Public Service Alliance of Canada regarding the new federal accommodation policy for the public service.

•	ARCH presented a workshop on special education at the Down Syndrome Association of Toronto.

•	ARCH was a panelist on the Charter and disabilities at the Law Union of Ontario annual conference. 

•	ARCH has written a case comment on the Famous Players case for publication in the Journal of Law and Social Policy.

•	ARCH has provided accommodation training to tenant duty counsel and to other legal clinic workers. 

•	ARCH has provided several workshops on wills and powers of attorney.

•	ARCH participated as a panelist at the Ombudsman Ontario annual staff training on access to legal aid.

•	ARCH provided accommodation training to Department of Justice lawyers.

•	ARCH has provided speakers at law school events on public interest law, and human rights conferences. 

•	ARCH was an invited participant to a weekend think-tank conference on privacy and confidentiality issues in the context of HIV and AIDS. 

•	ARCH has written and spoken as an invited guest about the Ontarians with Disabilities Act (Bill 125). 

•	ARCH has presented at a conference held for a Taiwan Human Rights delegation on Protecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

•	ARCH has presented to several community groups and member organizations on income tax and disability.

•	ARCH has published several ARCH ALERTs which are distributed to the membership, interested individuals and the clinic system.

•	ARCH has co-authored with ACE, the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, a pamphlet on Home Care Rights, to be distributed to the general public and published by Community Legal Education Ontario. 

•	ARCH has revised the lengthy article “Providing Legal Services to Persons with Disabilties” for the Professional Responsibility Course of the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Bar Admission course.

Respectfully submitted,

PHYLLIS GORDON

ARCH Member Group List 2002

A.L.S. Society of Metro Toronto
AIDS Action Now!
AND (Association for the Neurologically Disabled)
Arthritis Society
Autism Society of Ontario
BALANCE
Bob Rumball Association for the Deaf
Brain Injury Association of Toronto
Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
Canadian Diabetes Association Ontario Division
Canadian Hard of Hearing Association
Canadian Hearing Society
Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario
Canadian National Institute for the Blind – Ontario
Canadian Paraplegic Association of Ontario
Cheshire Home Foundation
Down Syndrome Association – Toronto
Easter Seals Society
Easter Seals/March of Dimes National Council
Epilepsy Association of Toronto
Epilepsy Association of Ontario
Ethnic Organization for the Handicapped
Extend-A-Family
Family Alliance Ontario
Fibromyalgia Society of Ontario
Friends And Advocates
Frontier College
Hemophilia Ontario
Houselink Community Homes
Huntington Disease Resource Centre
Kidney Foundation – Central Ontario
Kidney Foundation – Eastern Ontario
Kidney Foundation – Greater Ontario
Learning Disabilities Association of Halton
Low Vision Association of Ontario
Margaret Fraser House
Marsha Forest Centre
Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Network for Mental Health
NEADS (National Education Association of Disabled Students)
Ontario Association for Community Living
Ontario Association for the Deaf
Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy
Ontario Federation of Community Mental Health and Addictions Program
Ontario Fibromyalgia Association
Ontario March of Dimes
P.U.S.H. Northwest
PATH Employment Services
People First of Ontario
Queen Street Outreach Society
Reena Foundation
Sound Times Support Services
Spina Bifida/Hydrocephalus Association
Thalidomide Victims Association of Canada
Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada
Transportation Action Now!
VIEWS – For the Visually Impaired

Permanent Staff List

May 2002
	
Staff and Position
AMANDA Ward, Receptionist/Support Staff
BILL Holder, Staff lawyer
CATHERINE Larkin, Community Legal Worker
DOREEN Way, Office Manager
ENA Chadha, Director of Litigation
HARRY Beatty, Director of Policy & Research
HESTER Ascah, Community Legal Worker
KIT Stone, Litigation & Administrative Support Staff
LANA Kerzner, Director of Summary Advice and Referral 
PHYLLIS Gordon, Executive Director