If you have been discriminated against because of your disability in certain contexts, we may be able to give you legal advice on your rights.
 
ARCH offers summary legal advice on your rights under Ontario’s Human Rights Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act, as applicable.

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.

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 Human Rights

Public Legal Education Materials

Fact Sheet – My Rights at Work: Limits to the duty to accommodate in Ontario https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/fact-sheet-my-rights-at-work-limits-to-the-duty-to-accommodate-in-ontario/

Fact Sheet – My Rights at Work: Requests for disability-related accommodation in Ontario https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/my-rights-at-work-requests-for-disability-related-accommodation-in-ontario/

Guide – Human Rights and Education in Ontario: A general guide for students https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/resource/guide-human-rights-and-education-in-ontario-a-general-guide-for-students/

Advocacy modules

Workshops and Webinars

Footprints & Impacts Podcast https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/arch-disability-law-centre-on-footprints-impacts-podcast/

ARCH lawyers speak on episodes of DeafDots https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/arch-lawyers-speak-on-episodes-of-deafdots/

Submissions

Submission to The Canadian Human Rights Commission on Complaint Rules, January 30, 2025, https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/submission-to-the-canadian-human-rights-commission-on-complaint-rules/

Papers

Blog

Case Summary and Analysis: JL v Empower Simcoe, 2021 HRTO 222 – First decision about human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/case-summary-and-analysis-jl-v-empower-simcoe-2021-hrto-222-first-decision-about-human-rights-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Case Summary and Analysis: Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission) v. Canada (Attorney General) – over one year later https://archdisabilitylaw.ca/canada-canadian-human-rights-commission-v-canada-attorney-general-over-one-year-later/

More Information and Community Resources The Steps to Justice module below also offers step-by-step information about Human Rights – Steps to Justice