The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is a community based legal clinic that helps low income seniors living in Toronto. It was founded in 1985 by an enthusiastic group of volunteers who felt concerned about the lack of legal aid services available for senior citizens and people with disabilities. The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly provides direct legal services to low-income seniors, public legal education, and engages in law reform activities.
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ACE opened its doors as a non-profit organization which operates without government funding. It relies on donations from individuals, organizations and fundraising initiatives such as Downton Abbey events to help the low income members of society such as those 55 years or older or those living with disabilities. Since it started it has not had any paid staff members, and is managed by a volunteer board of directors at least half of whom are seniors. All services to clients are free, and there is no income criteria for participation in the program.
The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly has been involved in law reform initiatives such as making submissions on Bill 77 (Respecting Caregivers), creating recommendations on the Ontario Expert Advisory Council on Aging Related Condition, Mental Health & Well-being Report, participating in community forums hosted by Ombudsman Waterloo Wellington Dufferin Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo & Area office’s Seniors’ Network, etc. ACE has also created public legal education resources focusing on topics affecting people disabilities or senior citizens which can be found on their website.
The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly provides legal advice, workshops, publications and referrals to seniors throughout Toronto at Senior’s Resource Centres (SRC) located in five different neighbourhoods in the city. They also refer clients to other organizations who may be better suited to handle certain types of cases. Most frequently these are income maintenance or consumer problems.
The majority of cases that they deal with involve power of attorney; wills; advance health care directives; review of home care agencies; contact lenses & eye care services provided through medical benefit plans; public transportation access issues; employment discrimination matters related to ageism, code enforcement matters related to accessibility issues for people with disabilities or mobility/public transit issues.
Knowledge is the best weapon that the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly has. The goal of ACE is to empower older adults with information on their legal rights, this allows them to have more control over the decisions they are making which will ultimately help improve their quality of life in a positive way.
The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly receives 100 new clients each year and provides assistance to an additional 200 through community outreach efforts, walk-ins at community centres, etc.
In one year from 2013 to 2014 ACE provided direct services for 1,891 clients at a cost of $967 per client or a total of approximately $17000 in that fiscal year compared to Legal Aid Ontario’s combined 963 hours spent representing individuals receiving legal aid assistance costing $867 per hour or $176,867.
ACE has raised about $100,000 annually towards its legal services alone with these types of events which also includes corporate sponsorship’s.
What They Say…
The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly is a community based legal clinic for low income senior citizens. ACE is managed by a volunteer board of directors at least half of whom are seniors. ACE is funded through Legal Aid Ontario and is the first legal clinic in Canada to specialize in the legal problems of seniors. ACE provides direct legal services to low-income seniors, public legal education, and engages in law reform activities. ACE services and activities are in relation to areas of law of special importance to the seniors’ population.
Website / Blog
You can access their resources (and contacts) by visiting them at: http://www.advocacycentreelderly.org
Contact the Advocacy Centre
Phone: 416 598 2656 or 1 855 598 2656
Address: 2 Carlton Street, Suite 701, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1J3
If you have any questions, suggestions, etc., please feel free to include them in the comments below (or you can even contact us directly)
