Health Justice Program
The Health Justice Program is a partnership between St. Michael's Hospital Academic Family Health Team, St. Michael's Hospital and legal clinics ARCH Disability Law Centre, Aboriginal Legal Services Toronto, HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic of Ontario and Neighbourhood Legal Services. The partnership is funded through Legal Aid Ontario with in-kind contributions from all partners.
What services do you provide?
Who do you provide service to?
We aim to support low-income patients of the Family Health Team at St. Mike's. We strive to facilitate access to justice for those whose health makes that access especially difficult, while seeking to stabilize or improve key social determinants of health. and have legal issues affecting their well-being, such as experiences of discrimination, personal safety, and problems with employment, family, and housing. We encourage patients who are in unstable housing, identify as aboriginal, as having a disability or have HIV/AIDS to access our services.
What are the Health Justice Program’s goals?
Our mission statement helps guide us in our goals:
How do I make contact with the Health Justice Program?
What should I expect when speaking with the legal assistant, law students, or lawyer?
Our Program is LAO-funded, rooted in community legal clinic work, and embedded in the Family Health Team (FHT) at St. Michael’s Hospital. We strive to facilitate access to justice for those whose health makes that access especially difficult, while seeking to stabilize or improve key social determinants of health.
What services do you provide?
- Legal information, referrals and brief services for rostered patients of the St. Michael's Hospital Family Health Team (FHT)
- Inter-professional education for healthcare & legal practitioners
- See our 2019 workshop series for primary health care providers: Health Justice Tuesdays
- Systemic advocacy project work grounded in community engagement - NEW: See our Community Engagement Report: Improving Housing Conditions, Improving Health, issued March 2020, with recommendations for how medical-legal partnerships can re-imagine a collaborative response to the housing crisis.
Who do you provide service to?
We aim to support low-income patients of the Family Health Team at St. Mike's. We strive to facilitate access to justice for those whose health makes that access especially difficult, while seeking to stabilize or improve key social determinants of health. and have legal issues affecting their well-being, such as experiences of discrimination, personal safety, and problems with employment, family, and housing. We encourage patients who are in unstable housing, identify as aboriginal, as having a disability or have HIV/AIDS to access our services.
What are the Health Justice Program’s goals?
Our mission statement helps guide us in our goals:
- Improve access to justice
- Address the social determinants of health and health equity in our community
How do I make contact with the Health Justice Program?
- Contact us directly
- Ask to be referred to us through your doctor, nurse practitioner, social worker or other health care provider
What should I expect when speaking with the legal assistant, law students, or lawyer?
- Please ask for translation services and/or disability related accommodations
- Phone or in person appointments are around 30 minutes long
- At a minimum, we will give you legal information and a referral to legal services in the community
- Bring or have relevant documents ready for review
- To assess our program, we will ask you confidential questions that will remain anonymous. Answering these questions is voluntary
Our Program is LAO-funded, rooted in community legal clinic work, and embedded in the Family Health Team (FHT) at St. Michael’s Hospital. We strive to facilitate access to justice for those whose health makes that access especially difficult, while seeking to stabilize or improve key social determinants of health.
Contact information
Phone: 416-864-3005
Manager, Jennifer Stone
Email: stonej@lao.on.ca
Legal Administrative Assistant, Marcello Ferrara
Email: ferrarm@lao.on.ca
Phone: 416-864-3005
Manager, Jennifer Stone
Email: stonej@lao.on.ca
Legal Administrative Assistant, Marcello Ferrara
Email: ferrarm@lao.on.ca
