About the clinic

About The Clinic

We are a student legal clinic, staffed by an immigration lawyer who supervises second- and third-year law students at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. We provide free legal advice, referrals and, in some cases, representation to people in Northwestern Ontario dealing with immigration, refugee or citizenship law problems.

The Newcomer Legal Clinic has four goals:

Fill the Access to Justice Gap for Newcomers – Until now, free legal clinic services for immigration and refugee law have not been available in Northwestern Ontario. Our Clinic hopes to fill the gap and make it easier for newcomers to access the legal support they need.
Build Knowledge about Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Rights and Processes in Northwestern Ontario – We plan to offer plain-language public legal education presentations online, in person, and in print, with special attention to issues that are important to newcomers and their supporters in Northwestern Ontario.
Train New Lawyers to Serve Newcomers – We hope that the students who train at our Clinic will graduate with an understanding of immigration law and of working with clients from diverse communities and with diverse language abilities. It is our hope that Northwestern Ontario’s new lawyers will graduate ready to serve the newcomer community.

We are located on the top floor of the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law Building

Our Funding and Structure

The Newcomer Legal Clinic came into being as the result of a partnership between Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law and the Thunder Bay Multicultural Association. Our project is funded by a grant from The Law Foundation of Ontario’s Access to Justice Fund. The Law Society of Upper Canada has recognized the Newcomer Legal Clinic as a Civil Society Organization. To learn more about what it means to be a Civil Society Organization, click here.