Community Legal Workers

The Corporation has a number of Community Legal Workers (CLWs) that provides legal, paralegal, and law-related services in the NAN communities. The CLWs are all members of Nishnawbe-Aski Nation and speak the language of the communities they serve as well as English. Where a member of one the First Nations requires the services of a lawyer, the Corporation, through its CLWs will help the members make an application to Legal Aid Ontario (LAO).

The CLW is crucial to the operation of the Corporation. The CLW works with justice personnel and the communities to improve the administration of the Euro-Canadian legal system of justice and assist clients and their families in dealing with legal matters. The CLW plays a central role in the development and delivery of public legal education in the communities. Moreover, the CLW also make referrals to other organizations, work with the Victim/Witness Advocate and the Restorative Justice Workers, and can assist First Nations in the development of alternative justice systems.

Community Visits

The CLW spends the majority of his or her time assisting clients with a wide variety of legal matters. These include providing clients with assistance in court and dealing with matters that clients require assistance with including their roles as Commissioners for swearing Affidavits.

The CLWs also function as court workers, interpreters for clients with defense counsel and conduits of information from the members of the communities they serve to the Corporation and other outside bodies. They are often the first contact for clients within the legal system and assist the client throughout the entire process from first contact to the final resolution of the problem.

The CLWs make community visits as frequently as possible with trips planned to each community on a regular basis. Most of them reside in and work out of the communities that they serve. There are also a few CLW's located in our Sioux Lookout branch office or main office.

Attendance at Court

The CLWs attend court in each of the communities they serve including fly-in and road access, courts held in urban centers such as Sioux Lookout, Geraldton, Longlac, Hearst, Timmins, Chapleau and other places where NAN members may attend court.

Most of the communities are accessible by air and about one-third by road year round. There are several communities that do not have scheduled air service and are only accessible by small float or ski planes.

More than half of all NAN communities are serviced by "fly-in" courts. The court parties travel to the fly-in communities on a more or less regular basis and the schedules vary from 2 to 12 visits per year. The CLWs are required to be available the day prior to and on the court day for all fly-in courts. The CLWs travel by regularly scheduled airlines and on LAO charters.

Clinic Days

The idea behind the clinic day is to have a lawyer present in the community to discuss legal issues with people in the community. Any member of the community can discuss any type of problem with the lawyer, without appointment and without a fee. This provides the members of the community with greater access to legal services and will afford lawyers an opportunity to spend time in the communities with NAN members.

During these periods, the CLW assists the lawyer with interviewing and introducing him or her to the Chief and Council and other members of the community. These clinic days are a form of public legal education by allowing people to access legal information and assistance whether or not they have a matter before the courts.

Duty Counsel

NALSC maintains a panel of lawyers who provide duty counsel and certificate services. Two lawyers, one experienced in criminal matters and one in family matters are available on both the Advance and Court days and assist NAN members who are not represented by their own lawyers.