Legal Aid Ontario funds legal clinics across Ontario to provide free legal services to people with low incomes.

Community legal clinics serve people who live in their area. Some community legal clinics help with immigration and refugee problems. Search online for the clinic in your area using your postal code.

Speciality legal clinics provide services to specific groups of people. The following specialty clinics offer immigration help to the groups they serve:

• Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples
• South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario
• Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic
• Centre Francophone du Grand Toronto
• HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario
• Justice for Children and Youth

These law school clinics help people in Toronto with some refugee and immigration issues:

• Downtown Legal Services
• Community and Legal Aid Services Program

Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) can give you a certificate that pays for a lawyer to help you with your immigration or refugee problem.

To qualify, you must have a low income and a legal issue that LAO covers. For example, you might get free help from a lawyer:

• if you’re detained for immigration reasons
• to complete a Basis of Claim (BOC) form and prepare for your refugee hearing
• to prepare an appeal or application for judicial review
• to prepare a humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) application
• to apply for a pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA)
• if the government is trying to take away your refugee status

You can apply for a legal aid certificate online or by phone. Then you should find a lawyer that accepts certificates. You can also use the live chat on LAO’s website to ask for information about LAO services.

The FCJ Refugee Centre has free services for refugees and newcomers who do not have a secure or permanent right to stay. The centre can: 

• help with paperwork, translation, and interpretation
• make referrals to immigration and refugee lawyers 
• provide immigration case management for youth 
• give information about social services, skills development, and counselling 

They also provide temporary shelter for women and children, free food distribution, a primary health clinic for people without insurance, women’s programs, a youth group, and English classes. 

The centre has free information sessions about refugee hearings and appeals.

The Centre for Refugee Children provides free services to refugee and newcomer children who:

• are unaccompanied or separated from their parents, or
• have families with complex needs.

The Centre’s services include:

• settlement support, such as help accessing housing, education, and healthcare
• case management
• legal information and referrals

To refer a child for services, fill out the referral form.

In Thunder Bay, Kenora, and Rainy River Districts, the Newcomer Legal Clinic provides free legal services in refugee, immigration, and citizenship law to newcomers who have a low income or other barriers to accessing legal assistance.

To request services, fill out the form on the Clinic’s website or call the Clinic.

In Toronto, The 519 provides legal help, health and wellness programs, education, housing support, and other programming to 2SLGBTQ+ communities.

The 519 Legal Advice Clinic offers 30 minutes of free legal advice from a lawyer by phone or video conference about:

• criminal, employment, family, housing, human rights, health, income security, wills and estates, and civil law
• legal issues surrounding gender affirming care
• immigration and refugee law with a focus on sexual orientation and gender identity

The 519 also has other law-related programs like the:

• Trans ID clinic
• Mock Hearing Program for LGBTQ+ refugee claimants
• A2J Case Support Program for 2SLGBTQ+ Black, Indigenous, and racialized people who have a low income and are navigating the criminal or family law systems

For legal help, fill out the intake form, email LegalClinic@The519.org, or book a call.

The Muslim Legal Support Centre (MLSC) is a legal clinic for Muslims who have low to modest incomes. MLSC offers free legal advice and other services in these areas:

• immigration
• family
• employment
• human rights
• housing
• criminal

To ask for legal help, you can complete MLSC’s intake form. Or you can call 416-350-2914 and leave a message for someone to call you back. MLSC also has free legal information sessions.

The Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic in Toronto offers free legal services to women and gender diverse people who have experienced gender-based violence. Their services include:

• family law help if you’re in an abusive relationship or have left one
• immigration and refugee law help if you’re fleeing gender-based violence, your spousal sponsorship broke down, or to separate your claim from your abusive partner
• independent legal advice and representation for survivors of sexual assault or intimate partner violence
• some criminal law supports and referrals

The Clinic also offers free:

• interpreter services 7 days a week, 24 hours a day help from family court support workers
• counselling and housing support services

For help, fill out the intake form or call the Clinic.

This website lists some settlement organizations that help refugees across Ontario. For example, you might be able to get help with accessing housing, medical care, education, social assistance, and legal services.

The Immigration Detention Representation Program (IDRP) is a free service available from Legal Aid Ontario (LAO). Anyone in immigration detention in Ontario may be able to get a lawyer or paralegal to represent them at their detention review hearing. To access the program, you can contact one of the refugee law staff offices.

The directory lists all lawyers and paralegals licensed to give legal services in Ontario. You can search by name, address or postal code, language, and area of law.

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.

The Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT) is a community organization that helps newcomers with precarious status and victims of torture, war, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The Centre provides free:

• mental health counselling and support
• settlement services and English language and skills training
• child and youth programs

The CCVT can also arrange for professional mental health assessments and reports for use in immigration and refugee proceedings for newcomers with precarious status.

The Law Society of Ontario has an online Law Society Referral Service that gives you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will give free legal advice for up to 30 minutes in any area of law.

If you cannot wait for a lawyer or paralegal to call you back, or if you do not have a call-back number, email lsrs@lso.ca. If you’re in crisis or in custody, call 1-855-947-5255 or 416-947-5255, Monday to Friday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

JusticeNet is a not-for-profit organization that can help people find legal services when their income is too high for legal aid and too low to afford legal fees. Their website has a list of lawyers, paralegals, and mediators who charge reduced fees based on your income and family size. You must register and pay a small fee to use their services.

The College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) keeps a registry of Immigration Consultants and International Student Immigration Advisors that they monitor. Use this registry to find out if a professional is registered with the CICC. You can also use it to check if an Immigration Consultant has any discipline issues.