This new project will advocate for marginalized groups individual and their collective rights. The mobile team’s work will focus on three key areas: law, health, and psychosocial support. University of Ottawa students in law, nursing and social work will lead this initiative, which is meant to grow the clinic’s footprint in western Quebec.
Supported by a fund to provide further access to the law from Quebec’s Ministry of Justice, the mobile team will offer information, legal advice, and support in collaboration with community groups and help people advocate collectively for their rights. This new project stems directly from observations in the field during the first two years of clinic operations indicating that many were not able to travel to the Soupe populaire de Hull or other downtown services.
As an initial activity, the mobile team will be at the Nuit des Sans-Abri in Gatineau October 20, an event to raise awareness of homelessness.
“The mobile team project is the result of what we’ve seen in the clinic’s activities, showing an increase in the number of people living with homelessness appearing in court and the difficulty in reaching some of them. Collaboration between different organizations will help address this problem,” says Emmanuelle Bernheim, a professor in the Civil Law Section and a specialist in mental health law and access to justice.
Since fall 2021, the clinic has offered individual support every Wednesday during the academic year to those facing legal issues, at the Soupe populaire de Hull and in downtown Gatineau. These activities have been carried out by a team of students and legal professionals, with financial support from the uOttawa Civil Law Section, Quebec’s Chambre des notaires (representing notaries) and the Law Foundation of Ontario.
During the past year, the clinic has also supported persons exercising their individual and collective rights, whether regarding the construction of a police headquarters at the site of the former Robert Guertin arena or the homelessness crisis, an unresolved, urgent, and persistent humanitarian issue.
The clinic was established in 2020 by a multidisciplinary team of University of Ottawa and Université du Québec en Outaouais professors in response to research showing the increasing involvement in the legal system of those living with mental health issues or homelessness.
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Paul Logothetis
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