Community legal clinic building

Information for Community Organizations

The Community Legal Education and Outreach Division's mandate is to inform and educate the community about their legal rights and responsibilities.

Community Legal Education and Outreach

The Community Legal Education and Outreach Division adopts a proactive approach to legal problems. Our goal is to inform and educate the community with respect to their legal rights, responsibilities and obligations. We believe that making the law accessible to individuals and communities helps prevent legal problems or minimize their effect.

Through collaboration and coordination with partnership organizations we design and prepare legal information sessions regarding various legal topics.  The information sessions provides legal information, not legal advice, and may take the form of traditional lectures or games.  We strive to make the content of our information sessions practical, comprehensible and interactive.

If your organization is interested in obtaining more information about our information sessions, please contact the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic by telephone at (613) 562-5600.

List of some of our presentation topics

Common Community Legal Education/Outreach Presentation Topics

The following is a list of some of our presentation topics. Please note that wherever possible, we will do our best to accommodate requests and tailor a presentation that best meets the needs of your organization and your clients. We always strive to make the presentations relevant, accessible and interactive. Please contact our Community Legal Education and Outreach division to discuss your needs.

Accessing legal services in Ottawa: This presentation speaks to what a legal problem is and provides an overview of some of the legal services available in the City of Ottawa, including the services offered by our Clinic and our intake process. This presentation is a good starting point for a series of legal presentations.

Collection Agencies: Collection agencies must follow some rules when they contact a debtor. This presentation outlines what is a collection agency, and a debtor’s rights when contacted by a collection agency. This presentation is not about how to deal with debt, nor is it about the use of credit cards.

Tenant rights: This presentation offers an overview of the rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords under the Residential Tenancies Act. It may include information on leases, rent, deposits and receipts, the right to privacy and notices to enter, repairs and maintenance, evictions and termination rights. This presentation can be adapted based on the target audience to include relevant examples or be tailored to explain a specific area of the law in more details, such as repairs and maintenance or termination rights for example.

Minimum Standards for Workers (“Workers’ Rights”): This presentation provides an overview of some of the minimum standards for workers in Ontario. For workers to whom it applies, the Employment Standards Act sets out minimum standards such as minimum wage, breaks, overtime pay, vacation pay, and vacation time. The presentation also outlines resources to access legal help for an employment law problem. It does not cover leaves, layoffs or termination of employment.

Human rights at work: The Ontario Human Rights Code is the law in Ontario that ensures that all persons are treated with dignity by prohibiting discrimination and harassment. This presentation focusses on human rights in the employment context and explains grounds of discrimination and accommodation and provides examples of discrimination. The presentation also outlines resources to access legal help for a human rights problem.  

Provincial Offences: This presentation discusses what a Provincial Offence is, and how it differs from a Criminal Code offence. For example, it discusses the Safe Streets Act, the Liquor License Act and the Trespass to Property Act.

Internet Scams: An average internet user will come across many scams on their day-to-day online activities. This presentation covers: types of internet scams, consequences of falling victim to scams, steps on how to protect yourself so as to avoid becoming a victim.

Telephone Telemarketing Scams: This presentation concerns telephone scams. It outlines: what is a scam, the different tricks scammers use and common types of scams, and explains how to protect yourself from these scams.

Finally, the Clinic is also available to attend events such as, housing, job or health fairs. In addition, we may provide information about the Clinic or legal tips in your organization’s newsletter.

Please feel free to contact the Community Legal Education and Outreach Division to discuss your organizations and clients’ legal information needs, and to schedule an upcoming presentation. We look forward to working with you and your clients!