Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS): Income Maintenance Client Support Project

Project Type: 

• Client services (court forms, shadowing, mock hearings, intake, legal clinic, etc.)
• Research (memoranda used for internal purposes only)

Fields of Law: Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) and Ontario Works (OW) policies/legal precedents, Contract Law, Disability Law

Positions Available: 1

This is a joint project in which University of Toronto students may work with students from Lincoln Alexander Law School (TMU) and Osgoode Hall Law School (York University).

About Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS):

Don Valley Community Legal Services (DVCLS) is a community legal resource centre. The Clinic serves persons of modest income in their catchment area on an individual, case-by-case basis. The Clinic also serves the community generally by providing outreach, legal education and community organizing to agencies, individuals and other groups in the community.

Project Details:

DVCLS’ Income Maintenance team provides information, advice, and assistance related to income assistance, including Ontario Works (often still called welfare), Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and more.

This project will have a research component and a client-facing (shadowing) component.

Research: The student may be asked to provide supporting research for cases and/or public legal education.

Clients: The student will sit in on meetings with clients and possibly shadow particular files from start to finish to gain an understanding of how cases evolve. The student will sit in on client interviews, Social Benefits Tribunal (SBT) hearings, etc. They will take note of any issues (including medical concerns such as physical and mental health) which would be relevant to a social worker.

Additional responsibilities: Students may assist the IM team with additional responsibilities including preparing a file to be closed, sending out medical request letters to doctors, and various administrative tasks related to the survey. Administrative tasks are to take up no more than 10% of a students’ time.  

Will the student(s) be expected to show up for regular shifts each week, or is the schedule flexible?

The schedule is flexible. Client meetings may happen on an ad-hoc/sporadic basis.

Requirements and Expectations:

Some knowledge of ODSP/OW legislation is helpful, as is the ability to work with a variety of staff and computer competency.