ARCH can explain your rights to have your guide dog or service animal accompany you when accessing services, going to school, or at work. ARCH also offers advice on the legal requirements of a guide dog and service animal.

ARCH provides a free and confidential legal information and summary advice service for people with disabilities across Ontario. Through our Summary Advice and Referral Service, ARCH Disability Law Centre can provide the following services:

  • Free and confidential summary legal advice and legal information about supported decision-making, substitute decision-making, health care consent, and obtaining accounts from the Public Guardian and Trustee;
  • Removing court appointed or statutory guardianship including the Public Guardian and Trustee;
  • Revoking Powers of Attorney

How to Access our Summary Advice and Referral Service:

To begin our Intake process at ARCH, please complete the Intake Form (hyperlink here) here. Our Intake Coordinator will review your information and will be in touch with you to finalize our Intake process.

Another way to begin our Intake process is to contact our Intake Coordinator, who will ask you questions including your name, contact details, and household income.

The information requested helps us make sure there is no conflict of interest and that you qualify for our services. If your issue fits within the areas we help with, we will set up an appointment with a lawyer.

You can call ARCH to make an appointment at 416-482-8255 or toll-free at 1-866-482-2724 extension 0. You can also contact ARCH through our Teletypewriter service (TTY) at 416-482-1254 or toll-free at 1-866-482-2728.  

To be eligible for this service, you need to meet these requirements:

  1. You must be the person with a disability whose rights are at issue.
  2. You must be a resident of Ontario.

Accommodation

Should you require any disability-related or other accommodations pursuant to the Human Rights Code, please inform us and we will explore the most appropriate accommodations that best meet your needs.

To access our Accessibility and Accommodation policies, go to: LINK

If you cannot contact us by telephone due to disability-related reasons, you can email us at intake@arch.clcj.ca.

If you reach out to us by email, please keep the following in mind:

  • Transmissions do not create a solicitor-client relationship. Email transmissions sent to our intake address or to any staff at ARCH do not create a solicitor-client relationship. You will not become a client unless ARCH agrees to act for you and this is confirmed in a written agreement.
  • Transmissions may not be confidential. ARCH cannot guarantee the confidentiality of the content of any email transmission facilitated by this website. If you wish to provide confidential information, please contact our Intake Coordinator or the appropriate lawyer by telephone.

Disability Law Intensive – Human Rights Clinic

ARCH, in partnership with Osgoode Hall Law School, offers the Disability Law Intensive (DLI) program, which is a leading and innovative experiential learning opportunity for law students in disability rights law. Through the DLI program, ARCH initiated the Human Rights Clinic. Under the supervision of an ARCH lawyer, DLI students offer legal services to eligible clients with the drafting of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario Application (Form 1) or a Reply (Form 3).

A law student from the DLI program, supervised by an ARCH lawyer, will write the documents for you. However, ARCH will not represent you in your case or file anything to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on your behalf.

This additional service is only available during the DLI student placement every academic year, which runs from September to March (excluding December).

Please contact us for more information about the DLI Human Rights Clinic and to explore if you qualify.

To be eligible for the DLI Clinic service, you need to meet these requirements:

  1. You must be the person with a disability whose rights are at issue.
  2. You must be a resident of Ontario.
  3. You must meet the financial eligibility criteria set by Legal Aid Ontario. We will check if you qualify before starting any work.
  4. Your case must have legal merit (meaning it must be a case that has a chance of succeeding).
  5. For Applications (Form 1), the deadline to file the Application must be at least two months after your initial appointment with us.
  6. For Replies (Form 3), the deadline to file the Reply must be at least two weeks after your initial appointment with us.

ARCH will decide if your case is suitable for this service. Please contact us for more information about the DLI Human Rights Clinic and to see if you qualify.

If you need more legal help than what is offered through the Summary Advice and Referral service (SAR), the SAR lawyer will explain to you what legal services you may need (for example, representation at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario), and whether any of those services can be provided by ARCH. For legal services beyond the Summary Advice and Referral service, you will need to meet the following criteria:

1. You must be the person with a disability whose rights are at issue.

2. You must be a resident of Ontario.

  • You must meet the financial eligibility criteria set by Legal Aid Ontario. We will check if you qualify before starting any work.
  • Your case must fall within ARCH’s legal areas of practice and have legal merit (meaning it must be a case that has a chance of succeeding).
  • For test case representation, your case must be systemic and meet test case eligibility criteria. 

If you qualify financially, the SAR lawyer will explain ARCH’s process for deciding if we can take on your case. The lawyer may also ask for more information to understand things like: the strength of your case, whether we have the resources to help, if it’s a “test case” (which means it involves a new legal issue), and if the case could have a broader impact on the community.

If ARCH cannot represent you, we will try to offer legal advice, information, and/or refer you to other services that can help.

Financial Eligibility

ARCH is funded by Legal Aid Ontario, and must provide services to individuals that meet Legal Aid Ontario’s financial eligibility test. The financial eligibility test is one of the factors that will determine whether ARCH can provide legal representation. The test includes the individual’s family unit; the family unit’s gross income; and the family unit’s liquid assets.

Income

Family unit size for entity servicesGross annual income
1$22,720
2$32,131
3$39,352
4$45,440
5 or more$50,803

Assets

Family unit size for entity servicesLiquid asset value limit for entity services
Individual$8,933
Family unit of 2 or more$11,910

Excerpt from Legal Aid Ontario Policy: Financial eligibility testing for entity services provided by community legal clinics and student legal services organization, published October 2021.

For more information about the financial eligibility test, please go to: https://www.legalaid.on.ca/more/corporate/about-lao-landing-page/legal-aid-ontarios-financial-eligibility-guidelines/

Please note that the Summary Advice and Referral services are provided regardless of financial eligibility requirements.

Select Resources on Guide Dogs and Service Animals

Public Legal Education Materials

Advocacy Toolkit – Service Animals in Schools in Ontario

https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/advocacy-toolkit-service-animals-in-schools-in-ontario

Advocacy modules

Workshops and Webinars

Submissions

Papers

Blog

Case Summary and Analysis: Denial of Service Animal Benefit for self-trained service animal is not discriminatory https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/case-summary-and-analysis-denial-of-service-animal-benefit-for-self-trained-service-animal-is-not-discriminatory/

Focus: The Law of Service Animals in Ontario https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/focus-the-law-of-service-animals-in-ontario/

More Information and Community Resources