For Immediate Release s433

PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release June 16, 2005

The Law Foundation of Ontario Selects Six Public Interest Organizations for Innovative Articling Fellowships

(Toronto, ON) — The Law Foundation of Ontario (LFO) has selected six public interest organizations from across the province for its inaugural Public Interest Articling Fellowships. The first-of-their-kind Fellowships will allow six law students to article full-time for a 10-month period commencing in September 2006.

The selected public interest organizations are: Amnesty International Canada (Ottawa); Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Legal Clinic (Toronto); Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (Ottawa); the Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation (Windsor); Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (Toronto); and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (Ottawa).

Larry Banack, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the LFO, says the Fellowships will allow the selected organizations to contribute even more significantly than they already do to the public interest in Ontario. “This is an important step in enhancing access to justice in Ontario as well as broadening public interest opportunities for articling students. It is our hope that the program will be transformative for the legal profession as well as the public interest world.”

“A number of worthy public interest organizations applied to participate in this initiative. It was a very difficult decision to select just six from so many deserving applicants. The six selected organizations represent the best of the public interest sector in our province,” says Pam Shime, National Director of Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC). A national program with chapters in every law school in Canada, PBSC is the administrative home for the Fellowships.

The Selection Committee members are: Chief Justice Roy McMurtry; Dean Bruce Elman, Windsor University, Faculty of Law and Chair of the Ontario Council of Law Deans; LFO Board Member Lorne Sossin, also currently Acting Dean of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law; Don Guthrie of Cassels, Brock LLP, former Chair of the LFO; Mary Brown, Executive Director of the LFO; Lynn Burns, Executive Director of Pro Bono Law Ontario; and Neena Gupta of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP in Kitchener.

Background on Organizations

Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. The articling student will become familiar with law and procedures impacting refugees in Canada by working closely on individual cases, as well as examining and developing advocacy strategies for a variety of legislative issues that affect refugees. Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Legal Clinic delivers critical services to the Greater Toronto Area’s most marginalized communities by providing free legal advice, counseling and language interpretation services to women who are victims of violence. The articling student will spend most of her time working in family law litigation, immigration and criminal law matters, and the rest of the time in advocacy work (public legal education, professional development and law reform).

Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic — the first and only legal clinic of its kind in Canada — was established in the fall of 2003 at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, to fill gaps in public policy debates on technology law issues, ensure balance in policy and law-making processes, and provide legal assistance to under-represented organizations and individuals on law and technology issues. The articling student will be involved in a number of practice areas including administrative law, legislative advocacy and law reform activities, as well as providing advice to clients.

Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation is the only organization in Ontario (and in Canada) mandated specifically to use human rights legislation to challenge discrimination in housing and to address housing insecurity and homelessness. The articling student will be involved in casework and litigation.

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper is a grassroots charity dedicated to restoring water quality in Lake Ontario. Similar to an environmental neighbourhood watch program, Lake Ontario Waterkeeper aims to bring back the public’s rights to swim, drink and eat, and accomplishes this goal by patrolling local water bodies by boat, addressing community concerns, identifying threats to clean water, and using legal and democratic processes designed to protect water quality. The articling student will practice administrative, environmental and constitutional law.

Public Interest Advocacy Centre is a non-profit charitable corporation that provides legal representation, research and advocacy on behalf of consumers, and in particular, vulnerable consumers, on issues involving the delivery of important public services including telecommunications, energy, transportation and financial services. The articling student will be involved in a number of activities including conducting research to support regulatory interventions in tribunals as well as appearing with PIAC Counsel before tribunals, government officials and parliamentary committees. - 30 -

For more information: Pam Shime, National Director, Pro Bono Students Canada, at 416.978.4048

Media contact: Kathleen O’Brien, Communications Officer, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, 416.946.8188 or [email protected]