The Ontario Legal Information Centre offers a free 30-minute meeting with a lawyer to anyone in Ontario, online or by phone in English or French. The centre provides legal information on any legal topic, and referrals to services. Book a meeting online or call 1-844-343-7462 if you need help.

Legal Aid Ontario funds the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE). It is a community legal clinic that gives services to seniors with low incomes in the areas of:

• Health care consent and advance care planning
• Consumer protection
• Elder abuse
• Health care
• Home care
• Long-term care homes
• Pensions and income
• Retirement homes

ACE does not help with wills or powers of attorney, or give legal advice on estate administration, real estate, criminal law, or family law matters.

Advocacy North for Elders and Seniors is a program run by community legal clinics in Northern Ontario. They offer legal help and advice to elders and seniors who have low incomes and are dealing with legal issues related to their age.  

They offer free and confidential help and advice in these areas: 

• retirement homes and long-term care homes 
• consent and capacity 
• wills and powers of attorney  
• elder abuse  
• consumer rights including scams 

The centre collects information about identity theft and other kinds of fraud. They have information to help people protect themselves against fraud. If you have been a victim of fraud, you can report this to the centre.

The hotline can give you 30 minutes of free legal help and advice over the telephone on civil law matters, which include:

• employment
• housing
• consumer issues
• Powers of Attorney
• corporate law for charities, non-profits, and small businesses

It doesn’t help with family law or criminal law problems.

The hotline generally accepts calls Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

If you live in the Ottawa or Champlain region and have a disability, ABLE2’s Reach Legal Referral Services may be able to help. They can refer you to a lawyer or paralegal for up to 3 hours of free legal advice in any area of law. But they cannot help with urgent legal issues.

If ABLE2 cannot help, they may refer you to community resources.

Book a meeting online, or call 613-761-9522 extension 452 or 453. You can also email reachlegalreferral@able2.org.