Legal Advice, Information & Representation
Lawyer Referral
Lower Mainland: 604-687-3221
Toll-Free: 1 800-663-1919
Facilitates a 30-minute consultation with a lawyer for $25 plus taxes. Inform the lawyer you have gone through Lawyer Referral, keep track of the time, and determine the hourly rate should you extend the consultation.
Access Pro Bono Society
Lower Mainland: 604-878-7400
Toll-Free: 1 877-762-6664
Operates a free legal clinic at locations across the Lower Mainland and British Columbia to provide legal advice and assist in the preparation of legal cases. They also operate a Roster Program which provides pro bono (free) legal representation services for specific case types to qualifying individuals.
Legal Aid
Lower Mainland: 604 408 2172
Toll-Free: 1 866 577 2525
Legal Aid provides subsidized legal services, ranging from legal information and advice to legal representation, in the areas of criminal, family and immigration law. Legal aid is limited to criminal charges, mental health or prison issues, serious family problems or serious immigration problems. Applicants must meet financial guidelines to be eligible.
Civil Chambers Program
Lower Mainland: 604-603-5797
Provides legal assistance and representation services to low and modest-income individuals engaged in civil (non-family) chambers litigation matters before the BC Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in Vancouver.
Justice Access Centre
Lower Mainland: 604-660-2084
Nanaimo: 250-741 -447
Victoria: 250-356-7012
Assists people with family and civil law issues, including separation or divorce, income security, employment, housing, or debt. The centre does not deal with criminal issues or small claims court forms and filings.
Community Legal Assistance Society (CLAS)
Lower Mainland: 604-685-3425
Toll-Free: 1 888 685 6222
Provides legal assistance to those with low income or physical or mental disabilities. CLAS also offers specific legal services for a person appearing before a Mental Health Act Review Panel.
UBC Law Students’ Legal Advice Program
Lower Mainland: 604-822-5791
UBC law students provide free legal advice and representation on specific areas of law to people who cannot afford a lawyer at clinics located throughout Greater Vancouver. LSLAP also publishes a comprehensive legal advice manual.
Indigenous Community Legal Clinic
Lower Mainland: 604 684 7334
Toll-Free: 1 888 684 7334
UBC law students assist Aboriginal individuals, band councils, societies, organizations, and groups with a variety of legal issues including criminal matters, family law matters, human rights complaints, civil disputes in small claims court, wills and estates, hearings before administrative tribunals, Indian Status applications, Aboriginal legal issues, and limited assistance with some divorce cases.
UVic Law Centre
Victoria: 250-385-1221
The Law Centre provides advice, assistance and representation to clients in the Victoria area who cannot afford a lawyer.
MOSAIC
Lower Mainland: 604-254-9626
MOSAIC provides legal services for low-income immigrants and refugees in immigration and family law matters. Also provides advocacy in tenancy, welfare, and employment matters, including for temporary foreign workers.
Native Courtworker and Counselling Association of BC
Lower Mainland: 604-985-5355
Toll-Free: 1 877 811 1190
Has offices throughout BC. Assists Indigenous people with the police or courts: assistance preparing for court, accompaniment to court, speaking on behalf of individuals in court. They also offer services related to drug and alcohol addiction.
Prisoner’s Legal Services & Advocacy
Call the Legal Services Society Call Centre
1-888-839-8889
A legal aid clinic for federal and provincial prisoners in BC. Can assist with segregation issues, disciplinary hearings, involuntary transfers, parole suspensions, detention hearings and sentence calculation, as well as other issues.
Rise Women’s Legal Centre
(a service for women)
Lower Mainland: 604-451-7447
A student-driven community legal centre offering legal services to self-identifying women, in family law, wills drafting, and immigration applications for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.
West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association
1 888-669-4482
Provides free legal advocacy and other services to live-in caregivers based in British Columbia.
Racialized and Immigrant Communities
BC Human Rights Clinic
Lower Mainland: 604-622-1100
Toll-Free: 1 855 685 6222
The BC Human Rights Clinic assists people across BC with human rights complaints before the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
BC Human Rights Tribunal
Lower Mainland: 604-775-2000
Toll-Free: 1 888 440 8844
The BCHRT is a quasi-judicial body that deals with human rights complaints covered by the BC Human Rights Code. Resolution can be done through mediation or in a hearing.
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Toll-Free: 1-888-214-1090
TTY: 1 888 643 3304
The CHRC deals with human rights complaints against the federal government, First Nations governments, or private companies that are regulated by the federal government such as banks, trucking companies, broadcasters, and telecommunications companies.
Access to Legal Aid
Every day low income people go to courts and tribunals across the country without any legal representation. They struggle to follow the complex rules of the court, gather the evidence they need to establish their case, and get their views across to a decision-maker. Many give up on our court system altogether. BCPIAC recognizes that without access to legal representation for low-income people, our legal system is manifestly unfair and cannot provide justice.
Access to Welfare
In recent years, BC’s welfare ministry has radically altered its service delivery model in ways that have made it very difficult for the most marginalized people in the province to access basic services
Justice for Racialized & Immigrant Communities
BCPIAC identifies the human rights issues affecting people of colour and/or those with limited legal status as critical to its anti-poverty, equality, and access to justice work.