barbra schlifer commemorative clinic annual report to the ... · barbra schlifer commemorative...

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

Annual Report to the Community 2009 – 2010

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

Annual Report to the Community 2009 – 2010

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Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic | Annual Report to the Community 2009 –2010

Board of directorsGina Papageorgiou, President

Debbie Caruso, SecretaryJodie Wolkoff, Treasurer

Melinda N. AndersonCarole Dagher

Rosie GentileSheila Gibb

Christine KilbyPaula McGirr

Danielle MillerShuchanna Swaby

Left during the year:Simone Lau

Linda Robinson Tina Wilson

community Partners and collaBoratorsBirkdale ResidenceChildhood Sexual Abuse Network and Working GroupChildren’s Aid Society Community Microskills Development CentreDomestic Violence Court – College Park Advisory CommitteeDomestic Violence Court – Old City Hall Advisory CommitteeErnestine’s Women’s ShelterGardiner MuseumLegal Aid Ontario – Area Committee and Family Law Advisory Committee National Judicial Institute – Domestic Violence Advisory CommitteeOntario Coalition of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)Pro Bono Law OntarioRefugee Lawyers AssociationRegent Park Community Health CentreSouth Asian Legal Clinic – Forced Marriage ProjectToronto Transition to Work ProgramUniversity of Toronto Law School

Special thanks to the many volunteers who bring spirit, fun and dedication to the Clinic; and to the staff and the courageous women who seek their assistance throughout the year.


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2010 marks 25 years of support, compassion and social change at the Barbra Schlifer Clinic. The Barbra Schlifer Clinic is a commemoration: of a woman, her friends and the community of women around them who founded the Clinic in order to help women gain freedom from violence.

This year, we helped over 4000 women achieve this goal.

It is a tribute to you that we are still here and thriving and able to respond to the changing face and changing needs of Toronto’s women. It is a sad reflection on our times that the need for our services is stronger than ever.

The Barbra Schlifer Clinic is one of a kind: It offers counselling in a variety of innovative modalities, interpretation in more than eighty languages, and integrated legal representation and advice in the three areas of law most requested by women trying to build lives free from violence—family, immigration and criminal law. Research shows that most women enter the legal system unrepresented in matters of family law, where despite great legal reforms many of us have been a part of, tremendous risks still await them. We represent the unrepresented in court, in hearings and in settlement processes. We are specialists in the complex intersections of law and life that a woman facing violence of any form is forced to navigate, when her future is uncertain and her life may be at stake. We provide skilled counselling, access to stable housing and group support when her past erupts into her present life through memory, trauma and severe difficulties with the tasks of daily life. We step up when international treaties have failed to protect her in civil war, migration or settlement in Canada, or when non-state actors, such as husbands or partners, have not been prosecuted in her home country. We help her tell the truth about the brutal facts of the many varieties of violence that cause women’s emigration and immigration, and that are still not fully recognized by our immigration system.

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Compassion, informed advocacy, hope for a different life—this is what the Schlifer Clinic means to so many each day. It is what we are known for.

The Schlifer Clinic was the recipient of the 2009 Guthrie Award, for ‘outstanding public service’, and ‘making significant contributions to access to justice’. We were also recommended by Charity Intelligence Canada for being a ‘top performing charity in service to Canadians.’

Stronger than ever, we have entered a renewal process with the transition to new leadership in the executive office—Amanda Dale has joined us as Executive Director.

But we have also entered renewal on the Board of Directors—this will be Gina Papageorgiou’s last report to you as Chair, and we both look forward to many great things coming from the succession team that will assume the leadership of this great and valuable community resource.

We ended the year with a commitment to a strategic planning process that gets at the best of who we are and what we mean to Toronto. Our prudent financial management has allowed us to invest a small surplus in the coming renewal process and in our rainy day fund. With a strong history and a bright future, you can expect great things from the Barbra Schlifer Clinic in the coming year.

Gina Papageorgiou Amanda DalePresident of the Board of Directors Executive Director



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Interpreter ServicesWe translate support and systems into 82 languages

In 2009/10, the Barbra Schlifer Clinic interpreted 5,726 times for women victims of violence who otherwise could not understand the help that was being offered to them at shelters, court or by support workers and counsellors. We were asked by our funder to provide interpreter sites across Ontario with the training that is a signature of our services—understanding the complex nature and impact of woman abuse in a multi-cultural context: a vote of confidence of which we are very proud.

Social Purpose EnterpriseOur top priority is social good in the bottom line

This year we branched out to provide interpretation where domestic violence is not the primary reason for seeking service. We secured start-up funding to operate a fee-for-service business that integrates social purpose to its outcomes and in its effects. By charging a fee, we can support the programs we run for which full funding is not available, as well as assist newcomer women to gain skills in Canada through meaningful work.

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Counselling Creativity, compassion and skillfulness

The Barbra Schlifer Clinic is known for responsive, creative and compassionate individual and group support for women experiencing violence. In 2009, we partnered with community agencies, such as Ernestine’s Women’s Shelter and the Regent Park Community Centre. We ran several innovative group programs for women—The Expressive Arts Project at the Gardiner Museum, the Arpillera (quilting) group for Spanish-speaking women, our Open Group for trauma survivors, the Partner Assault Group and the Mindfulness Awareness group. In all, 1571 women came through our doors to get individual support, advocacy and group counselling from our skilled team of counsellor advocates.

Legal Access to justice and professional representation

In 2009 the Clinic’s legal staff provided comprehensive family, immigration/refugee, and criminal law services to over 1,000 women building lives free from violence. Uniquely positioned at the intersection of three areas of law, our legal department provides summary legal advice, legal information, representation and litigation on behalf of the most marginalized women seeking freedom from violence. Linking local, national and international factors affecting women’s access to justice, the Legal Services at Barbra Schlifer Clinic make rights come alive to support daily needs and human dignity.


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Advocacy Social justice, anti-oppression and women’s rights

When government and policy leaders seek advice regarding response to and prevention of violence against women, Barbra Schlifer Clinic is there. This year, the Clinic also joined social justice and women’s groups to respond to Quebec’s Bill 94, aimed at barring women in Niqab from accessing services vital to their safety and well-being. Falsely claiming to safeguard women’s equality, the Bill instead restricts women’s equal right to access public services. Women’s dress choices become the lightning rod in a targeted attack on difference and ‘accommodation’. We argue that access to legal information and community resources, rather than legal restrictions, ensure women’s freedom of consent to religious expression.

EducationCollaboration, innovation, knowledge sharing

We improve access to justice for women while educating the next wave of practitioners. This year, we enhanced our solid program for family law practitioners and social service providers on domestic violence with an Articling Fellowship, Clinical Education program for University of Toronto Law School, training program for criminal law Duty Counsel, training program for criminal defence lawyers, and a large scale conference for non-legal professionals working with survivors of domestic assault. We also trained up-and-coming Counsellor/Advocates in Toronto, and interpreters across Ontario in our anti-oppression service model.

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Statement of OperationsBarBra schlifer commemorative clinic

Year Ended March 312010 2009

Revenue (Schedule A) $ 2,243,861 $ 2,167,093

Expenses

Salaries and benefits 1,643,876 1,652,618

Rent and utilities 146,071 145,688

Professional fees 51,680 40,450

Insurance 36,314 38,685

Special event 27,130 34,247

Social Enterprise 30,575 -

Client disbursements 35,613 32,398

Printing, postage and delivery 33,004 31,683

Telephone and internet 33,343 31,401

Travel 21,969 24,650

Repairs and maintenance 15,956 22,713

Bookkeeping and audit 17,285 18,270

Supplies 14,407 16,917

Strategic planning - 13,665

Professional development 11,752 12,640

Membership - legal and others 9,669 11,458

GST 9,496 10,209

Capacity building, symposium and conference 152 8,750

Resource centre 7,050 6,352

Bank charges 5,519 5,924

Childcare 3,753 2,941

Volunteer expenses 986 2,191

Miscellaneous 2,813 1,275

Recruitment 818 771

2,159,231 2,165,896

Excess of revenue over expenses $ 84,630 $ 1,197

Mississauga, Ontario | June 4, 2010 Clarkson Rouble LLP | Chartered Accountants | Licensed Public Accountants

Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic Charitable Business Number 11879 9162 RR0001

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funding Partners:

Barrick Gold CorporationBlake Cassels & Graydon LLP Epstein Cole LLPFasken Martineau DuMoulin LLPJ. K. Hannaford Barristers Professionals

CorporationLerners LLPOgilvy Renault LLPSomerville ConstructionStockwoods LLP Carole MacDonald and Jerry RecklessDavies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLPJames D. Gage and Danielle MillerLenczner Slaght Royce Smith Griffin LLPStikeman Elliott LLPTorkin Manes LLP

Adair Morse LLPBorden Ladner Gervais LLPChappell Bushell Stewart LLPGardiner Roberts LLPGelman and AssociatesGreen and ChercoverJ. Rob CollinsLabourers’ International Union of North

America-LIUNA OPDCThe Law Office of Cynthia ManciaLax O’Sullivan Scott LLPMiller Thomson LLPOPSEU-Ontario Public Service Employees

Unionthe Peters FamilyProvincial Building and Construction Trades

Council of OntarioSMG Sleep Management GroupScotiaBankScotiaMcLeodSkywave Mobile Communications Inc.Torys LLP

Andra TakacsAnja Kessler and Amanda DaleCOPE OntarioCavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre &

Cornish LLPCorporate Immigration Law FirmDL Doyle ConsultingFryer and AssociatesGlass and AssociatesThe Law Office of William SullivanThe Law Practice of Davine BurtonSack Goldblatt Mitchell LLPStevensons LLPT.E. Wealth Consultants LtdUFCW CanadaWintrip Wolkoff Shin

City of TorontoThe Law Foundation of OntarioMinistry of the Attorney GeneralMinistry of Citizenship & ImmigrationMinistry of Community and Social ServicesMinistry of Health and Long-Term Care

Pacifica Fund at the Toronto Community Foundation

United Way of Greater TorontoAnd numerous foundations, corporations,

community groups & individuals

our triBute host PartnersCIBCCassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

McCarthy Tétrault LLPRBC Foundation

our triBute event Partners

© 2010 Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic

Telephone: 416.323.9149 Fax: 416.323.9107 TTY: 416.323.1361 Web: www.schliferclinic.com

489 College Street, Suite 503Toronto, ON M6G 1A5

Photos: Denise Babb-SifontesDesign: Anja Kessler – yaddaYadda communication

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