Going Out to Where People Live or Spend Time to Address Unmet Legal Need
Ab Currie, Ph.D.Friday, October 25, 2019
Since its establishment in 2002 the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County has recognized the need to better serve people in rural areas of the county. In May 2019 the clinic, which is located in the city of Guelph, began operating a mobile van called WellCoMs. The project is being funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario. The WellCoMs van travels to 12 communities in Wellington County on a regular basis, visiting each one two or three times each month. The communities vary in size from the town of Clifford with about 825 people to Fergus with a population of about 20,700. The van parks in a conspicuous place likely to maximize the number of passers-by and erects a tent attached to the van. The tent has prominent signage indicating the availability of free legal assistance. At the beginning of the day the WellCoMs team announces the presence of the van by sending out a message on the local community Facebook page. As well, the team places posters with information about the van and the schedule of future visits at places where people are likely to notice, such as the local library or coffee shops. Extensive contacts with community agencies were made in the planning stages of the project to determine strategies that offer the best potential reach, visibility and access within respective communities. Representatives of these community organizations and other interests (the mayor, the local MP or MPP) are also invited to visit the van.
During the first five weeks of the mobile WellCoMs van project, the van attracted 173 visitors. Of these visitors, 50 people were not experiencing a legal problem. A larger number, 123 people (71%), identified a problem for which they wanted help. The people presenting problems were asked how they learned about the van. The largest percentage were just passing by (69%), followed by persons who were referred by a community agency (12%), social media (8%), a friend, relative or other contact (5%), community newspaper (4%) and posters (2%). The five most frequently mentioned problems were: family law (31%), landlord-tenant (14%), Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) related and government pensions (11%), wills and powers of attorney (9%) and general civil disputes (9%). The number of people visiting the van increased on the second or third visit in 10 out of 12 communities.
In the spirit of “no wrong door, no wrong number”, everybody is provided with some assistance. A number of options for assistance are available. People visiting the van can contact a lawyer or legal worker at the clinic immediately using Skype. Referrals are also made to the legal clinic in Guelph and sometimes to neighbouring clinics. In addition, referrals are made to various community services, to Legal Aid Ontario family law offices and to the Law Society of Ontario lawyer referral service and other sources of assistance. A variety of printed public legal education materials is also available.
These preliminary findings suggest that there is a considerable amount of unmet legal need in rural Wellington County. Further, the mobile van appears to be an effective form of outreach. During the same five-week period in 2018, 21% of intakes at the Guelph clinic were from rural parts of Wellington County. During that period this year the percentage of rural intakes increased to 35%. It should be noted that the van cannot operate in the inclement weather of late fall and winter. As such, the van will run until October 31. Some way to transition from the van to another form of outreach that people will respond to has to be developed. Also, the potential of the van as a gateway to various forms of legal service has to be refined and further developed. Serving rural and isolated communities is a common problem facing legal services. The WellCoMs mobile van project being carried out by the Legal Clinic of Guelph and Wellington County is making a good start at learning how to do this.