Jack de klerk
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Jack de Klerk was the Director of Legal Services at Neighbourhood Legal Services. He served as co-director of Legal Services alongside Melodie Mayson from 1998 until Melodie's retirement in 2017. He then became the sole director until his retirement in 2019.
He first started working in a legal clinic in 1976 just after he and others in the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations formed and got funding for Metro Tenants Legal Services from the Ontario Legal Aid Program. Jack served on the executive of the Association of Community Legal Clinics of Ontario and the Toronto Legal Clinics Management Group (TLCMG). In 2013 he played a key role in bringing forward to the TLCMG the proposal to undertake the GTA Clinic Transformation Project. Jack is a leading expert in housing law and has argued cases before administrative tribunals and all levels of the Courts in Ontario. |
"We all know the expression: “It takes a village to raise a child”. It is equally true that it takes a community to make positive change in the world. The fight for affordable housing and the fight for access to justice (and let me emphasize again that means not only access to legal services and the justice system; having fair and equitable laws is even more important than being able to get legal representation) is not just a personal struggle; it is a fight for all of us. I have been engaged in this struggle for the better part of my life. I thank all of you, and many others as well, that I have not travelled that road alone. I could not have done that. Of course, none of us could. Thanks for being there, thanks for being part of my journey, thanks for being a fellow traveller."
- Jack de Klerk
- Jack de Klerk
