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Legal Research
CanLII is a non-profit organization that has been engaged by the law societies of Canada that are members of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to establish, operate, maintain and provide to the law societies a website dedicated to providing continuous access to a virtual library of Canadian legal information. CanLII's goal is to make Canadian law accessible on the Internet.
The present website provides access to court judgments, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.Please see our Legal Research Links page for more resources.
Legal Aid
Hamilton Community Legal Clinic is a community based not for profit agency whose diverse team of caring professionals and volunteers provides legal services to low income individuals and communities to promote access to justice and to improve quality of life.
The legal clinic provides summary advice and referral, representation, community development, law reform and public legal education.
Information about other community legal clinics in the province of Ontario can be found HERE.
Legal Aid Ontario has a statutory mandate to promote access to justice throughout Ontario for low-income individuals by means of:
- Providing consistently high quality legal aid services in a cost-effective and efficient manner;
- Encouraging and facilitating flexibility and innovation in the provision of legal aid services;
- Identifying, assessing and recognizing the diverse legal needs of low-income individuals and of disadvantaged communities in Ontario; and
- Providing legal aid services to low-income individuals through a corporation that will operate independently from the Government of Ontario but within a framework of accountability to the Government of Ontario for the expenditure of public funds.
Finding a Lawyer
By clicking on our Find-A-Lawyer feature, you can access the contact information of over 990 lawyers based on name, practice area, specialization, and preferred language in the Hamilton-Wentworth area. All lawyers listed are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada. The Hamilton Law Association does not provide referrals of its members at this time.
The Law Society Referral Service (LSRS) fills an important community need by connecting people looking for legal assistance with a lawyer or paralegal. If you're looking for a lawyer referral service or paralegal referral service, LSRS can help. For anything from dealing with a traffic ticket to buying your first home, you can find a legal representative with LSRS.
When you request a lawyer or paralegal referral online, we will give you the name of a lawyer or licensed paralegal who will provide a free consultation of up to 30 minutes to help you determine your rights and options, provided we have a match available.
You can also directly access and search through the LSO Lawyer and Paralegal Directory HERE.
Ontario Court Services
The Ontario Court of Justice is one of two trial courts in Ontario (together with the Superior Court of Justice) that make up the Court of Ontario. The Ontario Court of Justice is composed of provincially appointed judges and justices of the peace.
The Ontario Court of Justice has that jurisdiction which is specifically given to it by the laws of Ontario and Canada. In broad terms, judges of the Court deal with a wide range of family law cases (including child protection, custody, access, support and adoption) as well as the overwhelming majority of criminal charges laid within the province. Justices of the peace of the Court have jurisdiction with respect to provincial offences, bail hearings and search warrants. Their responsibilities also include, but are not limited to, presiding in criminal set-date court and hearing applications under section 810 of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Ontario Court Forms are available for family, criminal and provincial offenses cases for public use. The links are expandable embedded with form search engines based on area of law.
Legal Support Groups
Since 1974, CLEO (Community Legal Education Ontario) has developed clear, accurate, and practical legal rights education and information to help people understand and exercise their legal rights. Our work focuses on providing information to people who face barriers to accessing the justice system, including income, disability, literacy, and language. As a community legal clinic and part of Ontario's legal aid system, we work in partnership with other legal clinics and community organizations across the province.
FLIC services are available in family courts across Ontario. At the FLIC you can find information about separation and divorce and related family law issues, family justice services, alternative forms of dispute resolution, local community resources and court processes.
Information and Referral Coordinators (IRCs) are available at designated times to help you understand your needs and to make referrals to appropriate services. IRCs can give you information about family mediation and other ways to solve your issues without going to court.
The National Self-Represented Litigants Project works to promote dialogue and collaboration among all those affected by the self-represented litigant phenomenon, both justice system professionals and litigants themselves. NSRLP is committed to information and resource-sharing on the SRL phenomenon among all interested and affected parties.
TAG is a joint venture of the Law Foundation of Ontario and the LSUC aimed at bringing together institutions, political entities and community stakeholders in an effort to facilitate and promote access to justice.
The Human Rights Legal Support Centre offers human rights legal services to individuals throughout Ontario who have experienced discrimination. The Centre's services range from legal assistance in filing an application at the Tribunal to legal representation on human rights applications.
Housing Support
The Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) was created by the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA) on January 31, 2007. The RTA gives residential landlords and tenants rights and responsibilities, and sets out a process for enforcing them. The RTA also sets out the process for resolving non-profit housing co-operative (“co-op”) eviction disputes.
The role of the LTB is to:
- resolve disputes between landlords and tenants through mediation or adjudication
- resolve eviction applications from co-ops
- provide information to landlords and tenants about their rights and responsibilities under the RTA
The LTB does not provide information about the rights and obligations of non-profit housing co-operatives and their members.
Hamilton Housing Connects provides information rental and housing listings in the city, information about financial and utility support programs, along with landlord and Ontario electricity support among many other housing services.