An Article from Lawyers Weekly
Vol.22 | No.10 | July 5, 2002
www.lexisnexis.ca | The Lawyers Weekly
Reach Nova Scotia helping to change legal landscape for those with disabilities
Published with permission of: Donalee Moulton
A precocious Nova Scotia two-year-old is helping to change the legal landscape for individuals with disabilities. Reach Nova Scotia, established in June 2000, provides a broad and growing array of services. The common thread, says Executive Director Tova Sherman, is access to justice for the roughly 35 per cent of Nova Scotians living with a disability.
"If you're rich, you get the good lawyers. We're trying to level the playing field", she said. One of the primary ways the organization levels the legal playing field is through its free client/lawyer referral service. Lawyers volunteer their services and meet with disabled individuals to discuss their issues.
Each session may last up to three hours since many disabled individuals have cognitive or speech problems that require additional time to clearly explore an issue
Sherman says that although lawyers are asked to give up to three hours of their time, many give above and beyond this. Last fiscal year, lawyers donated 750 hours to the legal service. In the organization's first 20 months, 450 clients received legal assistance and the referral service saved the province more than $400,000 in legal fees. Nearly 150 lawyers currently volunteer.
Other organizations are also reaching out to the relative newcomer in the legal community. Twenty-three per cent of Reach Nova Scotia's referrals come from other organizations in the province. Fifteen per cent come directly from Nova Scotia Legal Aid and Dalhousie Legal Aid.
The only organization of its kind in Canada, Reach Nova Scotia is also active in the field of public legal education and last year received the CBA-Nova Scotia Law Day Award for its efforts to inform and educate. One initiative, the speakers' bureau, is a monthly series of discussions on issues relating to human rights and equality for persons with disabilities. The speakers, generally lawyers, host sessions around the province.
Sherman says this is just the beginning. "I want to start [educational sessions] for lawyers, law students and insurance companies. I want to engage the legal community."
To help make the law understandable, she and her volunteer staff are currently producing a legal resource guide for persons with disabilities. To help make forms easier to understand, the team is hoping to offer a legal written service, similar to law clinics, using law students who belong to the Pro Bono Students Canada group at Dalhousie University.
Sherman said outreach to the disabled community not only helps individuals address legal issues, but helps improve the legal community's reputation.
"There is a belief among the disabled community that there is a lack of access to the legal community. We're trying to show them [the legal community] is a good community."
Convincing people is Sherman's forte. She's the first to acknowledge her relentless approach is central to the organization's success. "I'm in people's faces. It's in my nature."
She says the takes "an extremely aggressive stance. We go where we see there is a need." Although Reach Nova Scotia has been very successful at getting project money - Sherman completed 52 grant applications last year and saw her budget jump from $92,000 to $458,000 - operational funding is virtually non-existent. Sherman and her colleagues hope that will change this year, with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice stepping up to the plate
Reach Nova Scotia is not asking for cash but proposing that two lawyers from the department be seconded, each for a six-month term.
In the meantime, it's non-stop work for Reach Nova Scotia, and that work is attracting the attention of other Canadian organizations and individuals.
"We see ourselves primarily focused on Atlantic Canada", Sherman said. "We see there are unique needs here. But we are willing to share our model with anyone across the country."
The need, she added, is great. "We're the last bastion of hope. We're the last stop before hopelessness. We never tell someone, 'We can't help you.'"
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