Annual Report
2012-2013

110-425 Bloor Street East
Toronto, ON
M4W 3R4

Vision and Mission Statement

VISION

A world in which all people with disabilities enjoy social justice and equal participation in society and our communities 

MISSION STATEMENT

ARCH Disability Law Centre, as a specialty legal clinic with a provincial mandate, undertakes to achieve this Vision by: 
•	Ensuring our work has Ontario wide impact 
Focusing on, identifying and removing systemic barriers 
•	Addressing issues that have an impact on low income people with disabilities, including the root causes of poverty 
•	Empowering people with disabilities 
•	Being recognized as experts in the law as it affects people with disabilities 
•	Addressing the heightened disadvantage, marginalization and exclusion faced by people with disabilities by reason of factors such as gender, race, age, language, economic status and sexual orientation. 
VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

ARCH is guided by the following set of core values:

•	The dignity and worth of all persons with disabilities must be respected;
•	Persons with disabilities have the right to life, self-determination, and full participation in a society free from barriers to their inclusion and integration;
•	Persons with disabilities themselves are in the best position to determine their own priorities;
•	All persons have a common responsibility to create communities accessible to all persons with disabilities.

Additionally, ARCH is guided by the following set of core organizational principles:

•	ARCH operates in accordance with the above core values;
•	ARCH is a community-based organization, governed by a Board of Directors composed of a majority of persons with disabilities;
•	ARCH is accountable to persons with disabilities in Ontario, its members and its funders.
Adopted by the Board of Directors, November 23, 2010
Chair’s Report
April 1, 2012 – March 31, 2013

Last year I started my report with an analogy between managing ARCH and sailing.  Well, I am happy to report that after another year of heavy weather, ARCH is sound and focused on delivering legal services to our community.  Whether labelled “administrative savings”, “efficiencies” or the like, the fact is that ARCH along with the rest of the legal aid system is being asked to deliver at least the same level of service for less.  By and large, ARCH has delivered.  I won’t steal our treasurer’s thunder, but our finances are in much better shape than I thought they would be.

This brings me to another point.  For the last 5 years it has been my distinct honour to have served as the chair of ARCH’s board of directors.  It has been a challenging and enriching experience.  At the start of last year I indicated to the board that it was my intention to serve as chair until after this annual meeting, and then turn the reins over to the person the board thinks best to assume that office.  I believe that strong organizations are ones that are good at succession planning.  When leadership change is managed well, new leadership step into a situation where things are going well and not an unfolding disaster.  Every organization needs to renew itself, and now is a good time for ARCH to do so.  We have a new strategic plan to develop.  New challenges are ahead.  I will remain on the board for another year during the transition, but the time has come for a change and the board has ample talent from which to choose.

In closing, I would like to thank the management and staff of ARCH for another outstanding year.  I am constantly amazed at the results they are able to produce and the enthusiasm they bring to the task.

Peter Wells,
President and Chair,
ARCH Disability Law Centre

Significant Activities Report
October 2012 to September 2013

On behalf of the staff of ARCH, I am very pleased to report to our members on the work of ARCH during this past year. ARCH staff continues to provide legal services and advocate with commitment and excellence for the community of people with disabilities. I thank each of them for their fine work and dedication.

ARCH’s Board of Directors continues to provide the leadership, governance and vision that maintain our organizational health and stability. Most importantly, our Board keeps us rooted and responsive to the community we are mandated to serve.  I am grateful to each of them for this guidance and for their unwavering commitment to the mission of ARCH.

Legal Services for Ontarians With Disabilities 

A cornerstone of ARCH’s services is the Summary Advice and Referral Service for Ontarians with disabilities. Over the last few years, ARCH has increased its activities in providing additional legal services to individual callers if eligibility requirements are met. We refer to this portion of our service as Brief Services. The Summary Advice and Referral Service, and Brief Services, are provided directly by ARCH lawyers.

Through ARCH’s Summary Advice and Referral Service, our staff provide summary advice, legal information, and referrals to people with disabilities across the province of Ontario. The service is provided primarily by telephone but other methods of communication, including in person meetings and email correspondence, are provided to accommodate disability. 

Brief Services

In the past year, ARCH’s activities providing Brief Services to Ontarians with disabilities have continued to increase. This service is primarily focused on ARCH’s priority areas but as with our Summary Advice and Referral Service, it is not limited to those areas. Brief Services may include providing a legal opinion on a specific matter, negotiating with service providers or opposing parties on behalf of the individual to resolve the matter and, investigating the legal merits of a matter. The following are some examples of Brief Services provided by ARCH lawyers in the past year:

Education Cases
ARCH assists many students and parents of students who are negotiating with schools to have their disability related needs accommodated in the educational setting. In some cases, ARCH lawyers assist post secondary students to advocate for the right to have their needs accommodated in the examination process, course load, the assistance of note takers, access to reading lists and materials in advance, etc. In other cases, we assist elementary students to advocate for their right to supports and services that allow them to be integrated in the classroom and allow them to reach their true potential in academics. For example, Laurie Letheren from ARCH assisted a 12 year old boy to advocate for his right to attend a school with his peers and where he would be provided with curriculum that would allow him to achieve his full potential. This boy has physical disabilities and has been labelled as a student with an intellectual disability. When this boy was in grade 3, his home school had informed his family that they were not able to accommodate his needs and he would be placed in a school that was some distance from his home. From grade 3 to grade 8, he had been with the same group of students for several years and he was in a class room that challenged him academically. For grade 9, the school board was proposing to place him in a high school where he would be separated from his peers and in which the curriculum would no longer allow him to reach his true potential. The school board indicated that they were placing him at this school because it was closer to his home. For this boy, being removed from his peers and being placed in a class that did not challenge him academically would have had a serious impact on his mental health and potential for achievement.  With Laurie’s assistance, the family succeeded in securing a place for him in the school that was with his peers and provided the appropriate curriculum for him.

Supportive Housing
Laurie Letheren of ARCH was approached by a family who was very concerned about the treatment their adult son was receiving in his supported living residence. The family had complained to the director of the facility about abuse and neglect on a number of occasions. The family was very concerned about their son’s safety. The family contacted the Ministry of Community and Social Services to inquire about the proper process for making complaints, having complaints investigated and reporting obligations. As a result of the contact with the Ministry, the support service agency threatened to withdraw services from their son. ARCH provided advice and support to the family in attending meetings and negotiating with the Ministry. The family eventually succeeded in securing another residential facility where the adult son would receive appropriate care. The Ministry ordered a third party investigation into the supported living residence where the son had been living. Laurie and the clients were interviewed by the investigators in July 2013 and were able to provide recommendations for changes to the service delivery. The investigation is on-going.

Significant Cases

ARCH engages in litigation on behalf of groups and individuals in cases in which potential outcomes will have broad impact for many people with disabilities. In pursuing these cases, ARCH strives to provide decision makers with a disability perspective, with the goal of changing existing laws and/or advancing the rights of people with disabilities. Additionally, ARCH has taken on a larger role representing individuals in the current four priority areas. The following is a summary of some of ARCH’s litigation activities:

Moore v. British Columbia 
On November 9, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released a decision in Moore v. British Columbia (Education). 

Represented by Robert Lattanzio and Laurie Letheren of ARCH, the Canadian Association for Community Living (CACL) intervened in this appeal before the Supreme Court. The focus of CACL’s submissions was on the meaning of ‘service’, which was a central issue in this case. CACL argued that to define service in this context as “special education services” promotes exclusion of students with disabilities from the general education services that are to be available to all. This is inconsistent with the goals and principles of human rights legislation and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

The Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal in which the Tribunal found that the failure of the school district to meet Jeffrey Moore’s needs as a student with a disability was discriminatory. The Court found that the goal of general education is that “all children should be afforded opportunities to develop their full potential … and the District did not take all the steps necessary to give Jeffrey the education to which he was entitled.” In reaching this conclusion on discrimination, the Supreme Court confirmed, the school board must show that “it could not have done anything else reasonable or practical to avoid the negative impact on the individual” and that “accommodation is not a question of mere efficiency”. 

The Supreme Court ordered that the School District pay the Moore family the cost of the private schooling that Jeffrey had to attend in order to achieve his true potential in his education and to pay for the damages for the harm that Jeffrey suffered. In addition, the Court ordered that Moore’s costs throughout this very long litigation process be paid by the School District.

This decision will be extremely important to students with disabilities accessing public education services.

Jason Tang and McMaster University 
Jason Tang was a PhD student in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University. He was injured in a sporting accident which resulted in post concussion syndrome. At the time of his accident, he had written and published two peer-reviewed manuscripts and had almost completed a third manuscript. With the addition of an introduction and a conclusion, these manuscripts were to be his PhD thesis. Another component of the Health Sciences PhD program is the completion of a comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam is usually completed within the first 2 years of the PhD program but the date of Mr. Tang’s completion of exam was delayed because McMaster had redesigned the exam process. As a result of the delay caused by the redesign, Mr. Tang had not completed that comprehensive exam at the time that he had the accident. 

After the accident, Mr. Tang returned to his research and writing but soon began to experience severe headaches, nausea and dizziness. The symptoms then worsened. He eventually had to take a leave from his research and writing. Mr. Tang returned after a 5 month leave of absence. His third manuscript was peer reviewed and published. He also began negotiating an accommodation plan for writing his comprehensive exams. After many months of attempting to have his disability related needs met for the comprehensive exam process, he was given a deadline to register for the exam. Firm deadlines were set for the completion of the exam process.  Mr. Tang attempted to complete the exam within the timelines that had been set by the Associate Dean. He was unable to complete the exam without appropriate accommodations. Mr. Tang decided that he had no option but to withdraw from the program and abandon his PhD.

Mr. Tang filed an application against McMaster University at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging that McMaster had failed in its duty to accommodate him as a student of their university. The hearing of the application began in July 2013 and will continue through to March 2014. Kerri Joffe and Laurie Letheren are the ARCH lawyers on this case.

Right to Housing Charter Application
On May 26, 2010 a number of individuals and the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (CERA) filed an application at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice arguing that by creating and maintaining conditions that lead to homelessness, under housing and inadequate housing the Ontario and Federal governments have breached their rights under section 7 (the right to life, liberty and security) and section 15 (right to equal protection and benefit of law without discrimination) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The applicants claim that both the Charter and international law require that Federal and Provincial governments implement effective housing strategies that will reduce and eventually eliminate homelessness and sub-standard living conditions.

More than two years after the application was filed with the Court, the Ontario and Federal governments brought a motion to ask the Court to strike the application. They claimed that the case did not raise any issues that could be decided by the court because a government’s strategy for dealing with homelessness or inadequate housing involved policy and financial decisions and these were not the kinds of decisions that a court could make. They also claimed that the types of remedies that the Applicants are asking the Court to order are not proper remedies for Charter cases.

Viewing the governments’ attempt to dismiss this important Charter application as an attempt to hinder the development of Charter case law and hinder the development of our understanding of the evolving equality protections provided by the Charter, five coalitions representing groups for whom the Charter is a very important tool for advancing rights asked the Superior Court for the right to intervene in the motion to strike.

Laurie Letheren at ARCH represented a coalition of ARCH, HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario, Dream Team and Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network in the motion to intervene. Several other community legal clinics were involved to represent the interests of persons who have low incomes, women, children, tenants. As well, Amnesty Canada and the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights sought leave to intervene. The Court heard two days of argument about the need to allow this case to continue. Many argued that our understanding of the rights guaranteed under the Charter must continue to be seen as evolving. As a result it is very important that a court have a full opportunity to hear evidence and argument before determining how the rights under sections 7 and 15 are to be interpreted in this case.

Unfortunately, the Court granted the Government’s motion to strike. The Court concluded that “The courts are not the proper place to determine the wisdom of policy choices involved in balancing concerns for the supply of appropriate housing against the myriad of other concerns associated with the broad policy review this Application envisages…If the Application were to continue, it would serve to draw the court across the applicable institutional boundaries and into areas that are the responsibility of the Legislature.” The Applicants have not announced whether they will be seeking leave to appeal this decision.

Rasouli v. Cuthbertson et al 
Last year ARCH intervened jointly with the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Rasouli case. 

This case is about who can make end of life decisions, as well as the decision-making process.

Mr. Rasouli had an operation to remove a malignant tumour in his brain.  After the operation, he got an infection. The doctors determined, after a period of time, that Mr. Rasouli was in a permanent vegetative state, which means that any further medical intervention or treatment would offer no further medical benefits to him.  The doctors proposed to withdraw life support and recommended palliative care.  Mr. Rasouli’s wife, who is also his substitute-decision maker, did not agree with the doctor’s plan to withdraw treatment. 

Under the Health Care Consent Act, a patient, or their substitute decision-maker, must consent to treatment before it can be administered.  If there is no consent, the doctors would usually refer the case to the Consent and Capacity Board (CCB) for an independent Tribunal decision.  However in this case, the doctors took the position that they could unilaterally make the decision, arguing that withdrawing or withholding treatment is not a treatment that would require someone’s consent.  Instead of going to the CCB, this case ended up in Court, because the doctors took the position that they did not have to refer their decision to the Tribunal.

Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice held that withdrawing or withholding treatment is still a treatment decision.  Therefore, the process that is available pursuant to the Health Care Consent Act applies.  That means that the parties must go to the Consent and Capacity Board to resolve a dispute about whether life sustaining treatment can be stopped where the patient, or his substitute decision-maker, do not agree with a doctor’s proposed course of action. 

The doctors appealed this decision to the Ontario Court of Appeal, who took a different approach, although reached the same result.  The Court of Appeal held that when a doctor proposed palliative care, it was a new treatment plan that required consent.  If consent to the treatment plan was not given, then the parties had to proceed to the Consent and Capacity Board. 
This case was heard by the Supreme Court of Canada on December 10, 2012. ARCH, jointly with ACE, argued that older adults and persons with disabilities may be disproportionately affected if doctors are allowed to make unilateral decisions about end of life decisions.  We expressed concern that there continue to be stereotypes about the quality of life our communities experience that might impact on a doctor’s decision to withdraw or withhold life sustaining treatment. However, our primary argument was that this case is about access to justice for low-income older adults and people with disabilities.  As opposed to the Courts, tribunals such as the Consent and Capacity Board are more accessible, cost effective and have expertise in making these kinds of decision. In all instances, we argued that the patient him or herself, or their prior capable wishes, must have the final say on the issue of consent.

Community Development

Community Outreach Project
In June 2011, ARCH received special funds from Legal Aid Ontario to hire a Community Outreach Coordinator.   During her time in the position, the Coordinator initiated groundwork activities. In particular, she began development of a contact database to manage our provincial network of community and private bar referrals. The current Coordinator started at the end of April 2012.  Since starting, she has undertaken a variety of initiatives to link ARCH with persons with disabilities and their advocates throughout the province.  Some of these initiatives are: 

The Ethno-Racial People with Disabilities Coalition of Ontario (ERDCO), and the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) invited ARCH to participate in a series of round-table discussions in January and February. These round-tables were part of ERDCO and OCASI’s Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Project. The round-table discussions were held in Toronto, London and Ottawa with representatives from both the disability and settlement sectors. ARCH was involved in developing the round-table questions and had the opportunity to speak about our services at the beginning of each session.  Through the round-table discussions, ARCH learned more about legal issues impacting newcomers with disabilities and made many new connections. 

In January, ARCH coordinated three focus groups so that community members could contribute to consultations on access to justice by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA).  These groups were co-facilitated by ARCH in partnership with ERDCO, the Empowerment Council, and the Canadian Hearing Society.  The sessions provided an opportunity for grassroots input into the legal process. During the sessions, ARCH connected with additional community members and heard their concerns with the legal system.  Many of these community members also learned of ARCH for the first time. As a result of participating in these consultations, they will now be able to contact ARCH when they need relevant assistance. It was also an opportunity for ARCH to connect more closely with three partner agencies.

ARCH also works with the Connecting Ottawa project, which increases access to services for people with language barriers and communication disabilities in the Ottawa area. When the Connecting Ottawa leads visited Toronto in January, ARCH arranged for them to meet the leads from Welcoming and Inclusive Communities. This led to ERDCO participating as a keynote speaker at the Connecting Ottawa conference in February that ARCH also attended. That same week, Connecting Ottawa hosted a meeting between ARCH and the legal clinics in Ottawa. Fostering such relationships improves capacity to assist people with disabilities in the Ottawa area, and therefore improves services for ARCH’s community. 

In March, ERDCO invited ARCH to attend an event in Kitchener for the In Focus Awareness Project.  That Project is examining access to services by people with disabilities in demonstration communities across the country. Kitchener has been selected as the demonstration community for Ontario. Through that event, and a focus group ARCH attended in Kitchener in August, we are making further connections in the Waterloo region. 

In April, ARCH launched its newly upgraded public library.  This event was held to coincide with the regular annual meeting of our community partners. The launch was an opportunity to connect with the ARCH community. We were pleased that new partners also attended. 

ARCH successfully nominated ERDCO for an Association of Community Legal Clinics (ACLCO) Community Champion Award. Awards like these are important in raising the profile of small organizations, allowing clinics and community agencies to learn about ERDCO, so that they can work together to serve our constituencies. 

ARCH facilitated and hosted a meeting of specialty clinics with the Connecting Ottawa lawyer when she visited Toronto in May. A notable outcome of that meeting was interest by some specialty clinics in exploring collaboration with 211, which is a partner in the Connecting Ottawa Project.  As ARCH has built a strong relationship with Findhelp, which operates the 211 line in Toronto, we agreed to coordinate this initiative. A first meeting of specialty clinic representatives and 211 was held in September. Specialty clinics requested a follow-up meeting with 211 to explore several avenues of collaboration. ARCH will work with Findhelp and 211 to coordinate this follow-up meeting. 

This year, ARCH has hosted many meetings for a new informal working group of rural legal clinics and Connecting Ottawa. That group is exploring links between legal clinics and community health models. As a result of this group’s work, ARCH coordinated logistics for a workshop demonstration by Health Providers Against Poverty (HPAP) in May. Representatives of rural legal clinics, speciality clinics, Connecting Ottawa, the Steering Committee on Social Assistance and the ODSP Action Coalition all participated in this workshop.  ARCH was also instrumental in arranging for HPAP to deliver a session about their campaigns at the Ontario Project for Inter-Clinic Community Organizing (OPICCO) conference in June. Since then, ARCH has continued to facilitate communications between HPAP and the clinic system. 

In May, ARCH met with Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto (ALST) to begin work on a collaborative PLE project. That meeting was extremely fruitful, leading to a decision to pursue a larger scale partnership of which PLE will be only one component. Following an Aboriginal model of relationship-building, ARCH staff were invited to visit ALST in June for a meeting which included traditional drumming, education on working with Aboriginal clients, and a chance for staff of both offices to meet and discuss commonalities in their work.  Then in September, ALST visited ARCH for a presentation on accessibility and a discussion of the social model of disability. At the end of that meeting, the two clinics identified a number of areas for moving forward with our partnership. 

ARCH visited Windsor in May, holding individual meetings with the local legal clinics and the Essex Law Association, as well as providing intermediary training (discussed, below).  In addition ARCH participated in an invitation-only two-day dialogue event at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law dealing with the release of a recent study by Professor Julie Macfarlane on Self-Represented Litigants.  The dialogue event included self-represented litigants from Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, as well as law society staff, law society benchers, law foundations, law commissions, Legal Aid Ontario, legal aid service providers, court services staff, lawyers, members of the judiciary from all three provinces, academics, representatives from the National Judicial Institute in Ottawa and the Federal Judicial Center in the United States. Justice Thomas Cromwell of the Supreme Court of Canada also participated on the final day. 
Improving access to legal information 
Last November ARCH presented at the Annual General Meeting of the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre (CALC) in Belleville. The event was well received with an audience of at least 100 people, both community members and front-line service providers. 

Our outreach strategy targets intermediaries:  front-line workers who are the first line of referral and support for low income people, including people with disabilities.  We have therefore developed a workshop and accompanying referral manual with intermediaries as the target audience. “Navigating Legal Services for People with Disabilities: A workshop for front-line workers” required extensive preparation in December and January. 

That workshop was delivered to Findhelp Information Services (Findhelp) staff in January.  Findhelp operates the 211-community information and referral line in Toronto, as well as providing after hours relief for 211 lines outside the GTA. Findhelp also houses province-wide data on community services. 

Subsequently Findhelp accepted diversion of 211 Ottawa calls for one morning in February, so that 211 Ottawa staff could receive the training during an ARCH visit to Ottawa.  In July, ARCH provided the training to two groups of staff at Windsor 211.

ARCH also delivered the workshop to a group of settlement workers in Ottawa in February. Connecting Ottawa organized both this workshop and the 211 Ottawa workshop.  In April, we delivered the training to workers from a variety of agencies operating in London, Ontario.  The workshop was hosted and coordinated by South London Neighbourhood Resource Centre and the Cross-Cultural Learner Centre, so there were many settlement workers in attendance. One participant had travelled from the rural community of St. Thomas. 

In May, we delivered the training to workers in Windsor. Staff from several Windsor settlement programs attended one session, hosted by the YMCA.  We also provided the workshop to staff at the Can-Am Indian Friendship Centre.  Also in May, ARCH delivered the training to MS Society front-line workers across the province, via a live webinar. A different workshop was provided on specific areas of interest for Canadian Hearing Society interpreters in August. 

Through collaboration with HC Link, ARCH staff received two complementary sessions of hands-on training in social media. ARCH views social media as a new avenue for sharing legal information with our community. HC Link services are funded by the Government of Ontario to support agencies and groups in building healthy communities. HC Link provides bilingual consultations, professional and networking events, and resources. 

The training covered issues such as privacy settings, and policy considerations. It was provided at no cost at HC Link’s offices. Representatives of the HIV and AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario (HALCO) and Rexdale Community Legal Services also participated. This training was unique in that it focused on social media issues that are of particular concern to community legal clinics, and which other trainings only address tangentially and sometimes dismiss. Subsequently ARCH developed a draft social media plan and policy, which is currently under consideration by our Board. We will launch our social media platforms once that policy is approved.

Also during this year, a volunteer filmmaker completed two days of filming at ARCH’s office, with participation from several ARCH staff. He then edited his takes into two videos which provide key information about ARCH services. These videos will be released once accessibility features have been incorporated. 

Private Bar Referral Program
ARCH is working to expand its Provincial Private Bar Referral Program. That program is intended to improve our capacity to make appropriate and useful referrals and increase access to legal services by people with disabilities. It is also meant to raise awareness and increase the capacity of the legal profession to provide services to clients with a disability. 

In order to support this initiative, ARCH worked with the Law Society of Upper Canada so that this year’s annual Access Awareness Event was accredited for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours. It was also web cast for access by practitioners around the province. This year the event focused on areas of law for which ARCH would like more robust, province-wide referrals. The event, “Achieving Autonomy and Inclusion for Racialized People with Disabilities: Examples from Immigration and Family Law”, featured a welcome and introduction by ARCH’s Executive Director, and by Law Society Bencher Mary Louise Dickson, who sits on the Ontario Courts Accessibility Committee. The first panel provided an orientation and introduction from ARCH Staff Lawyer, Dianne Wintermute and Ayshia Musleh, former ERDCO staff and currently Accessibility Specialist, Human Rights and Equity Services, McMaster University. This panel discussed capacity issues and the impact of intersectionality.

Subsequently, Tess Sheldon, former ARCH Staff Lawyer and current counsel to Justice for Children and Youth on the Smith Inquest, chaired a panel on Immigration Law and Policy. That panel featured Carole Simone Dahan, Director, Legal Aid Ontario Refugee Law Office and Tom Pham, Hong Fook Mental Health Association. The panellists presented on issues facing people with disabilities whose immigration status is precarious, as well as the impact of recent changes in immigration policy.

Finally, ARCH Staff Lawyer Kerri Joffe chaired a panel on Family Law and Child Protection Issues. This featured Victoria Starr, Chair of the Family Lawyers Association of Ontario and Melanie Moore of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto. The panellists discussed Family law issues impacting people with disabilities and the differential impact on members of racialized communities and Aboriginal people with disabilities.  ARCH’s Executive Director provided concluding remarks to review the day.
The event wrapped up with a lovely reception generously provided by the Law Society, and a thank you from Peter Wells, the Chair of ARCH’s Board of Directors, encouraging applications for ARCH’s private bar referral program. Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, also provided remarks.
To maintain momentum from the Access Awareness event, ARCH is planning a second CPD event for December 3, 2013, the International Day for Persons with Disabilities, in partnership with the Ontario Bar Association. We will launch ARCH’s Disability Law Primer at this event. We are very pleased that Legal Aid Ontario accepted ARCH’s funding request earlier this year so that we are able to translate the Primer into French.

Francophone outreach
In January, all ARCH staff participated in a half-day workshop and discussion on providing welcoming and inclusive services to Francophone clients. An HC Link specialist also provided that workshop. HC Link has subsequently arranged introductions for ARCH with both Le Phénix, an agency serving Francophone people with disabilities, and the AJEFO, the Association of French Speaking Jurists of Ontario. We look forward to working more closely with these agencies during the coming year.

As well, during this year, several ARCH public legal education factsheets were translated into French.  ARCH also attended a full day provincial forum on francophone partnerships provided by HC Link. At this forum, ARCH met staff of Reflet Salvéo. Reflet Salvéo is an organization dedicated to supporting service providers in their efforts to develop health services in French. ARCH subsequently attended Reflet Salvéo’s French Connection Forum. The forum, delivered to service providers in the GTA, allowed for smaller groups and focused discussions.  We continue to examine ways to increase access to legal information and services for Francophone people with disabilities.

Disability Rights for Citizens Project 
The Disability Rights for Citizens Project was organized by CILT (Centre for Independent Living Toronto) under the direction of Melanie Moore and funded by the City of Toronto’s Access Equity and Human Rights Fund. The project was presented with support from community partners, ARCH (represented by Ed Montigny) and CCD (Council of Canadians with Disabilities) represented by Vangelis Nikias. 

The goal was to provide accessible information on the CRPD (United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to persons with disabilities to allow them to self advocate for improvements in services and supports. 

To that end CILT presented ten workshops to various communities of persons with disabilities, focussing on the particular interests of the blind, deaf, deaf-blind, persons with mobility disabilities, mental health disabilities, intellectual disabilities and people who use augmentative communication devices. 

The project wrapped up on September 3, 2013 with a Town Hall Meeting at the 519 Church Street Community Centre. In addition to Melanie Moore and John Mossa from CILT, City Councillor Adam Vaughan and Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, Barbara Hall addressed the audience about next steps and future projects to promote accessibility and equality for persons with disabilities. 

Law Reform Initiatives

ARCH staff participated in several law reform initiatives that included working with coalitions, making written and oral submissions to government committees and government officials. In many instances we see the suggestions made in the ARCH submissions reflected in the changes to legislation and policy. Some of the initiatives undertaken this year include:

Promoting Effective Monitoring and Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
In March 2010 Canada ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  Since then, ARCH has actively promoted effective monitoring and implementation of the Convention in Canada. 

Article 28 of the Convention requires Canada to take measures to ensure that people with disabilities are entitled to an “adequate standard of living” and “social protection” without discrimination in order to allow people with disabilities to live independently in the community.  However, the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s Report on Equality Rights of Persons with Disabilities indicates that Canadians with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged of all Canadians.  This year, the Commission engaged ARCH to write a report analyzing the extent to which federal income support measures, a type of social protection, meet Canada’s legal obligations under Article 28 of the Convention.

ARCH’s report provided the Commission with a legal interpretation of Article 28 of the Convention, and an analysis of the implications of ratifying the Convention with respect to Article 28.  We considered various federal income support programs, including income replacement programs and plans, as well as tax measures for people with disabilities.  We analyzed the extent to which Canada’s existing income support measures meet the obligations and standards articulated in Article 28 of the Convention. Our report concluded with recommendations on how the federal government can better implement its obligations under Article 28. 

This work provided ARCH with an opportunity to conduct in-depth legal research and analysis on the Convention, and to apply this analysis to the Canadian context and the experience of people with disabilities in Canada.  Our report has been disseminated to provincial and territorial human rights commissions, and we hope that it will inform the work of these organizations in advocating for effective implementation of the Convention. 

Social Assistance Review
ARCH has actively participated in Ontario’s Social Assistance Review (the Review).  We held consultations with our community partners to inform our submissions to the Commissioners on the Social Assistance Review. Participants in our consultations included people with intellectual disabilities, physical and mobility disabilities, mental health disabilities, Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing, no or low vision, and episodic, recurrent and/or intermittent disabilities, along with organizations that advocate on their behalf. We also participated in helping to draft of the submissions of the ODSP Action Coalition’s Policy Committee.

The Commissioners released their final recommendation in a paper entitled Brighter Prospects in October 2012.  The focus of that Report is effectively moving people with disabilities into the workforce, with appropriate supports. Along with the Income Security Advocacy Centre, ARCH hosted a meeting with its community partners and members of the community to analyse the Commissioners’ recommendations and their potential impact on people in receipt of Ontario Disability Support Program benefits.

The Ontario Government’s 2013 Budget made some small changes to the Ontario Works Program.  There were no changes that helped to lift people on the Ontario Disability Support Program out of poverty.  However, the new Minister of Community and Social Services, The Honourable Ted McMeekin, and his staff are travelling around the province to continue consultations on The Poverty Reduction Strategy, and in particular, on more significant changes to the delivery of social assistance in the province. 

The Government announced a 1% rate increase that will only affect the actual recipient of ODSP, and not their family.  This means that a single person on ODSP will get $11.00 more per month.  If there is only one person with a disability in the benefit unit, the entire increase will only be $11.00 more per month.  If both spouses are on ODSP, they will get an increase of $22.00 per month, but if they have children, there will be no increase to the entire amount of ODSP that the family unit receives. 

ARCH will continue to meet with government officials to discuss ways of improving ODSP that will benefit people with disabilities.  These include the removal of barriers and better access to employment along with other ways to address poverty with respect to people with disabilities.

Public Legal Education Activities

ARCH delivered a number of educational sessions to further our goal to ensure that people with disabilities, and those who represent them, are aware of their rights and are enabled in their enforcement. The following are some examples of the sessions delivered during this past year:

Early this year, Laurie Letheren was again invited as a guest lecturer at Osgoode Hall’s Antidiscrimination Intensive program. Laurie’s lecture informs the students about the different models of disability theory, the history of the rights movement in the Canadian community of persons with disabilities and the jurisprudence that demonstrates the evolution of the rights of persons with disabilities as protected under the Charter and human rights legislation. The students at this lecture are part of the experiential learning at the Human Rights Legal Support Centre. Since many of the people who contact the HRLSC for assistance are persons with disabilities, previous students who have attended this lecture have indicated that it provided them with a very useful grounding for the work at the Centre. The lecture ends with an in depth discussion about disability theory and how the theory should be applied when advancing the rights of persons with disabilities.

Robert Lattanzio was invited to speak at a conference on Inclusive Education, titled Meeting the Challenge: Accommodation. His presentation focused primarily on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Moore v. British Columbia (Education).

Robert Lattanzio also presented at the Human Rights Annual Update Conference hosted by the Ontario Bar Association, speaking on recent appellate decisions including the Moore decision. 

Robert Lattanzio and Laurie Letheren co-wrote a paper on the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Moore and its impact on the appropriate legal test to be used when proving discrimination within a statutory human rights framework. 

Robert Lattanzio co-wrote an academic paper titled “Law and Ordered C.H.A.O.S.: Social Science Methodology, and the Charter Claims of Persons with Disabilities”, which was published in the National Journal of Constitutional Law. 
ARCH Alert 
ARCH Alert is ARCH’s newsletter. It provides timely information on proposed legislation, major cases, government consultations, community initiatives, and other disability-related initiatives and developments.  ARCH Alert has a circulation of approximately 3700 readers. It is distributed to people with disabilities, family members, government officials, disability organizations, the media, ARCH’s community partners, the community legal clinics in Ontario, lawyers and legal organizations throughout the province and beyond. After the publication of each issue and at many public legal education events, people have expressed their appreciation for the information provided and for the thorough and relevant content in the newsletter. 

In early 2012, we did a survey requesting feedback from our readers about the newsletter, particularly around the areas of accessibility and layout. We received fewer than 100 responses. As a result of the suggestions we received from our readers, we made some changes to the layout and look of the newsletter in order to increase the Alert’s accessibility.  We will continue to work to ensure that the ARCH Alert is accessible to all. 

ARCH Alert articles can be read on line at: http://www.archdisabilitylaw.ca/arch-alerts. 

Disability Law Primer
ARCH has produced a revised edition of the Disability Law Primer - a legal reference for practitioners, advocates, and students as they undertake to deliver legal services for persons with disabilities. The Primer is intended to provide a foundational base for further research and study in disability law. 

The first edition of the Primer was produced in 2003 and reflected ARCH’s practice at that time. It was important to update the articles in the 2003 Primer to ensure legal currency, but also to address those areas of disability law that comprise the legal issues of current importance to the disability community and which have formed the current areas of priority in ARCH’s work.

This Disability Law Primer reflects an approach to disability law practice that considers the needs for legal services regarding which persons with disabilities consult ARCH.  Since 2010, ARCH has focused on the following areas of disability law: services to persons with intellectual disabilities; education law; attendant services; the right to make one’s own decisions; and access to justice for persons with disabilities.  Based on the mandate of ARCH as one of Ontario’s community legal clinics, our practice incorporates human rights and poverty reduction analyses.  We hope to have captured this focus in the scope of this newest edition of the Disability Law Primer.

Highlights of Selected Program Initiatives and Special Programs

Disability Law Intensive
ARCH Disability Law Centre has begun an exciting partnership with Osgoode Hall Law School at York University called the Disability Law Intensive.  The purpose of this program is to introduce second and third year law students to the complex issues faced by persons with disabilities and to help them learn the most effective ways of delivering legal services to our community.  This program is the first of its kind in Canada. Nine students were selected to participate in the 2013-14 Disability Law Intensive at ARCH.

The students participated in an intense training week from August 26 – 30, 2013.  During that time, all ARCH staff were engaged in presenting a variety of topics that included: an orientation to our office, office practices and procedures; the substantive areas of law that form the basis of ARCH’s priority work; and the basic, practical skills that will assist the students in performing their work.  ARCH staff were joined by guest lecturers in some topics.

The students will rotate through two program sections at ARCH:  half of the students in the Clients Services Section, delivering direct client services through our Summary Advice and Referral Service, researching and writing memos of law to assist in the development of strategy for cases, and preparing for mediation or hearing.  All of this will be done under the supervision of a staff lawyer.  The emphasis for the Client Services Program will be in the area of attendant services.  The other half of the students will start in the Policy and Law Reform Section, with a focus on Developmental Services.  This group will be working with an Advisory Group of self-advocates to address systemic issues affecting the community of people with developmental disabilities through rights enforcement and education.  The two groups will rotate sections in January 2014.

The students are at ARCH two days each week.  It has been invigorating for all of us to have them join us in the office.   They bring a fresh perspective and keen sense of learning to the tasks they are given.

ARCH looks forward to enhancing the services that we offer to our community through the introduction of this new partnership.

Law Commission of Ontario
ARCH is honoured to have been asked to participate on Advisory Groups for two new projects undertaken by the Law Commission of Ontario. These law reform projects arose directly from the Law Commission’s comprehensive work, A Framework for the Law as It Affects Persons with Disabilities.  The first relates to the Law Commission’s current project on Legal Capacity, Decision-Making and Guardianship and the second on Registered Disability Savings Plans and Capacity.   These projects are intended to provide proposals for reform in the law that follow on the rights based principles that support the Framework in these important areas.  ARCH looks forward to further supporting these projects by submitting a research paper on “Protecting the Rights of Persons who are Subject to Substitute Decision Making” and by assisting in public consultations in the new year.

ARCH Library
Thanks to the support of the Law Foundation of Ontario, ARCH has been able to hire a librarian to organize, scan, and re-catalogue our current and archival collection.  Our librarian, Mary Hanson, who has assisted our sister clinic Injured Workers’ Consultants in a similar project, is carrying out this important project and is organizing and cataloguing the library into a database which will allow it to be searchable using a subject index developed by our lawyers.  The collection has been reclassified and entered into the database and physically rearranged.  We would also like to scan (with the publisher’s permission) our extensive subject files.  These are mainly comprised of papers, newspaper clippings, and articles chronicling the disability movement over the last 30 years.   Our plan is to be able to find this valuable information with ease so as to support our work and to provide the information to the community.

ARCH Public Library
This year ARCH launched the ARCH Public Library which contains current and historical resources on many disability-related issues important to people with disabilities and their families. The resources, available in print, video, DVD or web formats, may also interest ARCH community partners and researchers. The resources cover topics such as: disability law and policy; programs and services for  persons with disabilities; history of the disability rights movement; inclusion and equality rights in education, employment and society at large; community and independent living; advocacy and empowerment; safety and abuse prevention; accessibility and assistive technologies; practical guides for home, school, workplace and community; memoirs and experiences of  persons with disabilities and their families.

Community members can come to ARCH to browse the library and search the catalogue. We have two computers equipped with access to the Internet and screen magnification software.  Library visitors can also use the screen reader (JAWS) and alternative keyboard.  Our print and video resources are for use in the ARCH Library. The library catalogue can be used remotely from home or office.  Members of the public can search by subject, title, keyword or author. ARCH law reform submissions and public education resources will display in full-text online versions. 

We greatly appreciate the financial support of the Law Foundation of Ontario in assisting us in making the ARCH Public Library a reality.

Collaborative Work

ARCH staff participate in a number of committees on an ongoing basis throughout the year.  These include committees of community groups, legal aid clinics, the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario, Legal Aid Ontario, the Law Society of Upper Canada and government. The work of all of these committees is to advance access to justice for the poor in Ontario and to ensure their voices are heard by governors, policy and decision makers. Examples of these committees on which ARCH staff participated during the year include: 

Law Society of Upper Canada’s Equity Advisory Group [EAG] 
Ontario Disability Support Plan Action Coalition
Ontario Disability Support Plan Access Committee
Clinic Human Rights Working Group
Knowledge Management Group 
Lawyers & Community Legal Workers New to the Clinic System
Toronto Legal Clinic Management Group
Toronto Support Staff Association
Ontario Legal Clinics’ Network on Workers’ Compensation

ARCH participates in a committee of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto that is considering the issue of Aging with a Mobility Disability, and will continue to do so in the coming year.  This project, coupled with the information we presented at the Canadian Conference on Elder Law will assist us in gaining a better understanding of the issues facing some communities of people with disabilities as they age, and may help to inform some of the other work we do.

ARCH has a seat on the Director’s Review Committee for the Office of the Independent Police Review Commission, to ensure that the voice of people with disabilities is heard during the review process.

We are working with the Peel Police, and the Canadian Hearing Society to draft a protocol for police to use when dealing with Deaf, deafened or hard of hearing persons.  We expect that there will be police and community training sessions once the protocol is adopted.  
Interclinic Workgroups

Association of Human Rights Lawyers
ARCH continues to host monthly meetings of the Association of Human Rights Lawyers. Lawyers in private practice, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre and our colleagues in various legal clinics attend the meetings to discuss important decisions, Human Rights Tribunal procedures and to brain storm on case consultations. In between meetings, members share information and dialogue through email. The discussion is always very informative and the group is a great source of support and guidance for those who practice human rights law.

Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario
ARCH remains an active member of the Association of Committee Legal Clinics of Ontario (ACLCO) and is represented on the ACLCO’s executive. This work focuses on ensuring the continued vitality of Ontario’s poverty law services. The ACLCO has focused this year and last on bringing the voice of community legal clinics to its funder, Legal Aid Ontario, and to the Ministry of the Attorney General as plans are formulated to transform legal aid in Ontario. Specifically, the ACLCO finished its “first ever” Strategic Planning Process for the clinic system and has participated in facilitated meetings to achieve better collaboration with LAO. During a time of governmental restraint, the ACLCO continues to work to ensure the fundamental principles of clinics as independent, community based and governed organizations, providing a broad range of poverty law services, receiving secure core funding to do our work, and working together as a provincial system.

KnowledgeNow / Knowledge Champions
ARCH’s Office Manager is a member of the Steering Committee of the KnowledgeNow project which is a clinic project to enhance knowledge sharing, management and collaboration among clinics.  The KN project is managed by the ACLCO though a cross-clinic and LAO KnowledgeNow Steering Committee. This project works closely with LAO's Quality Services Office - Manager of Clinic Learning and Development.  Funding for this project has been provided by LAO's Poverty Law Innovations Fund.  Funding has been committed until September 2014.
ARCH Funders 
Legal Aid Ontario
The Board of Directors of ARCH wishes to acknowledge the on-going support of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO), ARCH’s primary funder.  Clinics are at the forefront of urging LAO to undertake initiatives that will enhance and broaden the reach of the delivery of legal services, particularly to those in marginalized and isolated communities.

ARCH received a three year grant from LAO’s Client Service Coordination Fund to fund our Community Outreach Coordinator.  The project is described earlier in this report.
Additional Funders
The City of Toronto has once again provided ARCH with a Community Service Partnership Grant that supports our education, information and referral program, for which we are appreciative. These funds enable ARCH to employ administrative staff not funded by Legal Aid Ontario. 

The Law Foundation of Ontario has provided ARCH with a grant to reorganize and re-catalogue our library collection and to acquire material for the ARCH Public Library. 

ARCH is licensed by the Ontario Lottery Corporation to participate in the Break Open Ticket program.  Receipts from this initiative support our information/referral services, library purchases, disability accommodation, and staff training. 

We received funds from Human Resources and Skills Development’s Summer Career Placement Program to hire a summer law student. 

ARCH Staff  
ARCH has a staffing complement of twelve positions.  As our primary funder, LAO provides our operating and on-going personnel funds.  We are able to fill 10.5 positions with LAO funds: the executive director (who is also a lawyer); the office manager; five staff lawyers; an intake and referral worker; a community outreach coordinator and 1.5 litigation assistants. 

ARCH raises funds through various sources from year to year that fund half the cost of an administrative staff as well as a librarian. 

Non-permanent staff include law students who work with us in the summer or on a pro bono basis throughout the year.  ARCH also contracts individuals from time to time to work on specific projects.

Contributors to ARCH’s Work:  Students, Lawyers and Volunteers

During 2012 and 2013 law students have expressed a great deal of interest in working with ARCH in various capacities. Pro bono law students, summer students and articling students have greatly enhanced our work. They bring talent, energy and commitment to the work of ARCH, as well as humour and fun to the office.  Additionally, ARCH is very appreciative of the support of the private bar and the pro bono assistance of lawyers and law students provided to ARCH itself, and to our clients.  ARCH thanks the many volunteers who have provided ongoing general support or offered us specific insight and information that has advanced our work.

ARCH gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following students and Lawyers:

Michelle Squires, Articling Student
Tovah Miller, Lawyer	
Samantha Greer, Law Student
Aliza Danson, Law Student  
Natalie McClean, Law Student
Luke Reid, Law Student
Luke Johnston, Law Student 
John David Lee, Law Student

IVANA PETRICONE
Executive Director

ARCH Staff List

Staff and Position
Ivana Petricone , Executive Director 
Amanda Ward , Information/Referral Worker
Dianne Wintermute , Staff Lawyer
Doreen Way , Office Manager
Ed Montigny , Staff Lawyer
Kerri Joffe, Staff Lawyer
Laurie Letheren, Staff Lawyer
Mary Hanson (contract), Librarian 
Robert Lattanzio, Staff Lawyer 
Theresa Sciberras, Program and Litigation Assistant
Yangtzee Tamang, Operations and Litigation Assistant
Yedida Zalik (contract), Community Outreach Coordinator

A Special Thanks to This Year's Supporters

	Legal Aid Ontario
	Alcohol and Gaming Commission (through Break Open Ticket Sales)
	Blakes LLP
	City of Toronto - Community Services Grants Program
	Human Resources and Social Development Canada 	www.hrsdc.gc.ca 
	Law Commission of Ontario
	Law Foundation of Ontario
	Law Society of Upper Canada - Equity Department
	Osgoode Hall Law School – York University
	Pro Bono Students Canada 
	Neeson and Associates Court Reporting and Captioning Inc.
	Spencer Bailey, Articling Student at Fasken Martineau 

And all individual donors - Thank You!