About ACE

The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is a specialty community legal clinic that was established to provide a range of legal services to low income seniors in the Province of Ontario. The legal services include individual and group client advice and representation, public legal education, community development, and law reform activities. ACE has been operating since 1984.

ACE is managed by a community Board of Directors of 15, 7 of whom must be age 55 or older. Board members are elected by the ACE membership. The elections take place at the ACE Annual General meetings which are held each year in the fall. ACE Board members come from a wide variety of backgrounds including: law, the health professions, social work, community services, and business. Many have extensive experience as volunteers. They share an interest in and commitment to the legal issues of older adults.

ACE currently employs five lawyers and three support staff. All the staff provide direct client services although each has a primary area of responsibility. The lawyers include an Executive Director that, along with the Office Manager, is responsible for the operational management of the clinic. Two of the lawyers are primarily responsible for the client intake service and any litigation undertaken for clients. One lawyer is primarily responsible for the legal research as well as the ACE publications and website. One lawyer is an "Institutional Advocate". The institutional advocate is responsible for providing legal services to clients who need advice or assistance with legal issues in long-term care facilities, hospitals, psychiatric facilities, and other institutional settings.

The three support staff include an Office Manager who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the office. Two intake/support workers do the initial client intake work, the secretarial tasks, manage the speakers service, and do a wide range of other tasks that are necessary to deliver the range of legal services available from ACE.

Funding

"Advocacy Centre for the Elderly" is a registered trade style of the Holly Street Advocacy Centre for the Elderly Inc. ACE is a registered charity (BN/Registration Number 106686728RR0001).

ACE receives funding from Legal Aid Ontario. Legal Aid Ontario is in turn funded by the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney-General. Although ACE receives funding from Legal Aid Ontario, ACE is a non-government organization and is independent from government.

The Legal Aid System and the Development of ACE

Legal aid was initially made available in Ontario for criminal and family law matters. This service was delivered by private bar lawyers on a fee-for-service basis through legal aid "certificates". To obtain a certificate, a client had to meet financial eligibility requirements. The certificate system continues to this day.

Over the years a need for legal aid was identified in other areas of law. In response, the first community legal clinics opened in Ontario in the early 1970s. These clinics were originally developed by community groups that identified the need for legal services for particular client communities such as injured workers. These first legal clinics had a variety of funding sources. As a result of various task forces and inquiries regarding legal aid, the Ontario Cabinet passed regulations to the Legal Aid Act establishing a Clinic Funding scheme and providing an ongoing funding structure for independent community legal clinics. Over the years the clinic system has grown to include 78 clinics as of 2003.

The majority of legal clinics were organized to provide legal services to low income people within a defined geographic area, a "community", such as a county or an urban neighbourhood. These clinics are referred to as general service community legal clinics. They provide a range of "poverty law" legal services as determined by their community, as represented by their Board of Directors. Usually this includes client services in such areas as landlord and tenant, income maintenance, welfare rights, workers compensation, and human rights. The exact composition of the work and range of legal services provided depends on local community demand and need for services. The clinics also engage in community development, law reform and public legal education activities related to their client services.

Some legal clinics such as ACE are known as "specialty" community legal clinics as they provide legal services to a particular client group. Among the many client groups served are injured workers, people with disabilities, seniors, Spanish-speaking people, aboriginal people, tenants, and prisoners.

In 1983, a group of people interested in the legal issues of the older population applied for funding from OLAP for a new community legal clinic that would serve the older low-income population in Ontario. This group was organized by members of Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Long-Term Care Facilities and included lawyers, community workers, health providers, a small-claims court judge, seniors' activists, and other community volunteers. The funding application was successful and ACE opened its doors in 1984 on Holly Street in the Yonge-Eglinton area of Toronto.

ACE was the first community legal clinic in Canada providing legal services to seniors with a focus on "elder law" issues such as health care consent, substitute decision making, long-term care, community care, retirement home tenancies, seniors consumer issues, and elder abuse.

When ACE opened it employed four staff persons. By 1988 ACE had expanded to the current level of eight staff persons. ACE has changed location twice and is now situated at 2 Carlton Street, Suite 701 in downtown Toronto. When ACE opened, the Board and staff worked with seniors groups and community groups to determine the legal needs of the seniors community. These outreach efforts helped in the development of the case types and case selection guidelines. This work continues to ensure that the clinic is responsive to the changing needs of the client population.

The Work of ACE

In addition to providing individual and group client advice and legal representation, ACE does public legal education, community development work, and engages in law reform. A discussion of the areas of law in which ACE provides advice and representation is found on this website under “Services”.

It was clear from the time ACE opened its doors that there was a need for public legal education for seniors so that they would know their rights, would be able to self-advocate, and would know when to seek other legal assistance. ACE also engages in legal education to those who provide services to seniors because of their influence in seniors’ lives. ACE regularly provides education programmes on elder law topics to social workers, health care providers, discharge planners, Community Care Access Centre staff, community college and university students, and lawyers.

ACE staff deliver as many as 90 community presentations and workshops per year. In addition they prepare written materials. ACE has worked with Community Legal Education Ontario and other legal clinics to produce a number of pamphlets and booklets on seniors legal issues. Publications include: Continuing Power of Attorney for Property, Power of Attorney for Personal Care, Every Resident – the Bill of Rights for Residents in Ontario Long-Term Care Facilities, Elder Abuse –The Hidden Crime, Home Care Complaints and Appeals, and Care Homes. In addition, ACE has published a detailed Manual entitled Long-Term Care Facilities in Ontario: The Advocate’s Manual, now in its third edition. ACE has also produced a 20-minute video on Powers of Attorney.

The ACE Board and staff have responded to systemic problems of clients by engaging in law reform and community development work. Over the years, ACE has produced numerous briefs and submissions for committees of the Legislature, commenting on proposed changes to policy and legislation. ACE has also engaged in various community development activities, the most recent being a three year project working with communities throughout Ontario to set up elder abuse community response networks to address elder abuse at the local level.

ACE now annually receives approximately 3000 contacts from new callers. Some of these are referred to more appropriate services; some callers receive advice and information over the telephone; and some callers are represented by staff lawyers in problem resolution negotiations, in court matters, and before tribunals.