Core Justice

A Publication of CLASSIC – Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City Inc.

123 20th

Street West Phone: (306) 657-6100 Email: info@classic.ca

Saskatoon, SK S7M 0W7 Fax: (306) 384-0520 Website:www.classiclaw.ca

A Word from the ED – Chantelle Johnson

Wow, how time flies! It seems like September was just yesterday when we started with a fresh, new group of students. Now, as we commence Term 2, we’ve already said good bye to our Term 1 group of Intensive Clinical students (pictured above): David Burland, Adam McLeod, Alex Anderson, Lorretta Markowski, Mitchell Cooper, Heather Franklin, and Dan LeBlanc. It was a great term and the students accomplished a lot of good work. For those of you who may not know, CLASSIC and the College of Law implemented the “Intensive Clinical Law Program” last year. This program sees up to 11 students per term, working Monday-Thursday, 9:00 – 5:00 at CLASSIC in the Walk-in Advocacy Clinic (WAC). On Fridays, the students take a seminar related to their work at the clinic, and poverty law. It is taught by Professor Sarah Buhler. The Intensive Clinical Program has proven to be a success on many fronts, one of the most important ones being the provision of better client-centred services. The students also seem to prefer it, as it allows them to concentrate solely on their client-files.

2014

Vol. 6, Issue 1

BOARD OF

DIRECTORS

Lori Johnstone-

Clarke

Bonnie Reddekopp

Gus Michalik

Steve Robertson

Deb Andrade

Glen Luther

Cathy Bohachik

Ammy Murray

Lynn Latta

Patrick McDougall

Andy Park

Rachelle Tanton

Tori-Lynn

Wynotch

Signa Daum Shanks

Thomas Hynes

Michael Maurice

Elder

CLASSIC STAFF

Chantelle Johnson

Executive Director

Nicholas

Blenkinsop

Supervising Lawyer

Trevor Oleniuk

Supervising Lawyer

Betty Beaton

Office Manager

Sarah Buhler

Clinical Law

Professor

Joilene Whitehead

Legal Assistant

Maikim Huynh

Admin. Assistant

Leif Jensen &

Kathleen McLean

Student Managers

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Other exciting things that have happened at CLASSIC include:

Our Legal/Executive Assistant, Joilene Whitehead, had a baby girl named Sydney Rayanne. Congratulations to Joilene and her family on their newest addition!

A number of students were fortunate enough to attend the Association of Community Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE) conference in Halifax! Thanks to the College of Law and Aboriginal Law Students’ Association (ALSA) for providing funding for some of the students.

CLASSIC handled a very high number of files through both our Walk-in Advocacy Clinic (WAC) and Legal Advice Clinic (LAC). In fact, we served 631 clients through the WAC and 324 clients through the LAC.

CLASSIC assumed the adjacent office space and underwent renovations! We now have 1200 more square feet of office space upstairs – thanks to our great landlord Al Habicht, as he is very good to us.

Finally, everyone at CLASSIC wishes all of you a very happy New Year! We hope everyone is keeping warm.

ACCLE

By Kathleen McLean

The Association for Canadian Clinical Legal

Education (ACCLE) is a relatively new group

comprised of individuals and clinics involved

with legal education. The purpose of ACCLE is

largely to create a forum in which to promote

pedagogy, research and the sharing of

information between clinics, clinicians and legal

educators.

ACCLE is also dedicated to organizing an annual

conference each year to bring the group’s

members together. This year, the 4th Annual

Conference was held at the Schulich School of

Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova

Scotia in mid-October. CLASSIC, thanks to the

generosity of the Law Foundation of

Saskatchewan and the University of

Saskatchewan, College of Law, was pleased to

have eight students and supervising lawyer,

Nicholas Blenkinsop in attendance at the

conference.

I was lucky enough to be one of the students

who attended the conference and I can

definitely say our group from CLASSIC really

bonded with the aid of our hostel bunk-beds.

While the daytime was largely occupied by the

conference, we had the evenings to explore

Halifax and get to know students from other

clinics around the country. We formed a

particularly strong connection with Ben Leung,

the Student Director of Student Legal Assistance

(SLA) at the University of Calgary. We found

time to tour a bit of the Maritime countryside

and took several pictures of the beautifully

colored fall trees. And of course, we made sure

to have a few seafood dinners.

The conference itself was well put together and

a diverse range of topics were presented on. I

will provide you with a brief caption of some of

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the speakers. Professor D.A. Rollie Thompson

Q.C., of the Schulich School of Law opened the

conference and set the tone for the days ahead.

He presented on the role of legal clinics

generally and some of the potential issues and

complications clinics face. Generally Mr.

Thompson believes the role of legal clinics is

three parts: legal education, legal services and

community work.

Legal clinics provide law students, and often

other inter-disciplinary students, with valuable

experiential learning opportunities and

experiences that are not commonplace in

traditional legal education. However,

experiential learning brings with it certain

concerns; some shared by clinics across Canada,

and some which are very particular to the

community in which the clinic is located.

CLASSIC’s own supervising lawyer, Nicholas

Blenkinsop, presented on some of the

challenges facing experiential learning

educators, particularly in the legal context,

where there are many uncontrollable and often

unpredictable variables at play. He also

presented a framework to help educators

incorporate reflective practice into experiential

legal education.

The keynote speaker at the conference was

Dean Michelle J. Anderson of CUNY School of

Law in New York, which is a public interest law

school. She spoke about the importance of legal

education in defining the contours of the legal

profession in general. It seems important to her

to pay particular attention to the impact of who

law students are and their relationship to the

communities served. People tend to have

strong ties to their own communities, so if we

are lacking representation in law schools from

certain communities we may be at risk of having

those communities further ignored.

Overall, CLASSIC’s students returned from the

Maritime trip with new friends, closer bonds

and a lot of information to think about! I look

forward to discussing the conference

presentations with the other members of

CLASSIC and awaiting what new ideas we can

incorporate into our own and practice and

community.

Address: 1320 20th Street West

Saskatoon, SK S7M 0Z2

Phone: (306) 38202855

Email: office@thebridgesaskatoon.com

The Bridge on 20th Fellowship Centre By: Priyanka Yadav

The Bridge on 20th Fellowship Centre is a non-

profit, Christian organization that aims to

respond compassionately to the needs of

Saskatoon inner city's less fortunate through

mobilizing and working with the church and the

community. The mission statement of this

organization is that “it exists to bring people

together, unified by God’s Holy Spirit, to meet

needs within Saskatoon’s inner city, so that all

would be changed” (Bridge on 20th, 2013).

This organization provides various programs for

all community members such as, the soup

kitchen, youth and kid’s club, spiritual-life

ministries, clothing depot and free haircuts. The

Bridge on 20th is currently in the process of

creating an ‘Emergency and Transitional

Program Housing’ that intends to supply a clean

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bed, meals and laundry facilities for those in

need. Furthermore, it will also provide

assistance in helping individuals to establish

personal goals, practice basic life skills and

develop relationships that provide a safe place

to open up and heal emotional wounds. It is

evident that this organization intends to provide

for the person as a whole, rather than just

focusing on the basic physical needs.

In addition, I have had the unique opportunity

to volunteer at the Bridge with their soup

kitchen and was able to experience first-hand

the services they provide to our community.

Not only does this organization provide a warm

and healthy meal to members of our

community, but also does so with a genuine

effort. I came to the realization after

volunteering there that serving a meal to

people of the community offers an opportunity

to engage in their lives, hear their stories and

create friendships. Therefore, it was evident

that the meal served is only a foundational

element, which has the potential of opening the

doors for relationships to prosper.

Know Your Rights: Police Powers &

Street Level Stops By Leif Jensen

In Canada, there are three reasons that a police

officer may stop you when you are on the

street: to make conversation, to detain you, or

to arrest you. It is important to know how each

of these relates to each other.

No matter why you are being stopped, you

maintain the right to silence. This is guaranteed

by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. You can

refuse to answer any questions by the police,

although if you deliberately lie then you may be

charged with an offence such as obstruction of

justice. If you are arrested, you do need to

provide your name and date of birth/address if

the police ask for it. You can also ask for the

officer’s name and badge number.

If you are being detained or arrested, you

should be told that you are being detained or

arrested. However, you can also simply ask

“Am I free to go?” If you are not being detained

or arrested, then you should be free to go. If

you’re being detained, you should be told that

you’re being detained and what you are being

detained for. Generally, this will be that there is

a crime and some sort of connection to you.

They can also do a pat-down search to ensure

that you do not have weapons.

You could be arrested for several reasons. The

most common are that there is a warrant out

for your arrest, or you have been seen

committing a criminal offence. You can also be

arrested when an officer has reasonable

grounds to believe you did or are about to

commit an offence.

When arrested, the police can search you and

use as much force as necessary for your arrest.

Strip searches may only be done in private, and

by an officer of the same sex as yourself. If

you’re taken to jail, you may have your property

confiscated. The police should provide you with

a list of items confiscated and ask you to sign

the list. You can review this to make sure that it

is complete. If in jail, you should be released or

brought to court within 24 hours.

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Police cannot threaten you, which includes

telling you that you could face more charges for

not cooperating, or make promises to get a

confession. They also can’t make you take a lie

detector test.

You have the right to speak to a lawyer as soon

as possible, and the police must provide you

with their phone number and a phone line.

If you feel your rights have been violated, you

can call the Police Service Professional

Standards Branch or the Public Complaints

Commission at (306) 964-1450. You can also

contact the FSIN if you are a person of

Aboriginal ancestry. Their number is 1-877-353-

3746. CLASSIC may also be able to assist you.

Reflections from the Office Manager By: Betty Beaton

It’s very difficult to believe that I will soon be

celebrating my 6th Anniversary with CLASSIC. I

can honestly say that this is the best job I’ve had

in my entire legal career. The changes that

have occurred during the past six years are

beyond anything I could have imagined when I

was asked to join this organization. When I was

first asked to consider becoming the Office

Manager, I hadn’t heard of CLASSIC, and I feel

very fortunate that one of the board members

approached me about the position. When I

began working for CLASSIC, I was one of two

employees on payroll, and performed multiple

jobs. I was the receptionist, the admin assistant,

the legal assistant, and the office manager. The

other employee was Sarah Buhler who also

wore numerous hats. She was the University

instructor, the Executive Director, and the

supervising lawyer. We had approximately 30

files when I started and now there are

anywhere between 250 to 300 open files at any

given time. In the six years I’ve been here,

CLASSIC has employed two full-time support

staff, two Supervising Lawyers, an Executive

Director, and we have two Student Managers.

Sarah now holds a full time position as the

clinical professor with the University’s College

of Law. Because of our rapid growth, we quickly

ran out of space at White Buffalo Youth Lodge,

and we had to find different accommodation.

We left White Buffalo with great sadness

because of the bond we had established, but we

were very fortunate to find the perfect location

for our office nearly three years ago. The

growth of the organization has come with

numerous challenges, most of which have been

very rewarding. CLASSIC is filling a valuable

need in this community which is acknowledged

by the many positive responses we receive from

our clients; while providing the students from

the U of S invaluable practical office experience.

It is very pleasing to hear students frequently

say that CLASSIC was the best part of their law

school experience. I’m very proud to be a part

of the CLASSIC team and am enjoying the

journey we’re on and look forward to what’s in

store in the future!

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The Relation Between Social Work

and Law: A Social Worker’s

Reflection By: Practicing Social Work Student, Ben

Nicholson

It was not long after I began my practicum

placement at CLASSIC that I knew I was in for a

rich experience. This is because the people

involved in making CLASSIC such a successful

community agency, have so much to offer and

teach. The organization not only relies on law

students to provide services to the community,

but values input from students of the social

work and political science professions.

Therefore, CLASSIC works as an interdisciplinary

team, as the diverse backgrounds of each

person serving in the agency offer unique skills

and tools that ultimately empower the

community as a whole.

As a social work student, I initially thought that

working with law students would offer a

challenge in terms of the ways in which we

provide service to people. This is because the

social work and law professions both abide by

their own set of ethical values and conduct.

The practicing lawyers at CLASSIC have a unique

responsibility to assist people with legal

matters. However, the social work academic

discipline seeks a broader category of service,

which focuses on the quality of an individual’s

life. Therefore, as a practicing social worker I

may be called upon to provide a certain service

on both an individual and community level.

Despite this, I have come to the realization that

when social worker’s and lawyers combine their

expertise, clients are able to have a wider range

of needs met.

CLASSIC collaborates the professions of law and

social work, which ultimately allows a practicum

social work student to approach client’s needs

in a more holistic way. For example, often

clients seeking legal advice and assistance have

a variety of problems that contribute to their

legal situations. These problems often go

beyond the expertise or professional

responsibility of lawyers. In this case, I may be

called upon to provide my assistance towards

the non-legal problems affecting the client.

Therefore, the client is receiving legal advocacy,

and special attention in regards to non-legal

matters by means of referral or advice. Overall,

not only does an interdisciplinary effort best

serve the client, but it also enhances the work

environment as the depth of social support is

enhanced.

Ultimately practicing lawyers and social workers

at CLASSIC seek to change people’s lives in a

positive way. This comes with an

acknowledgement that each profession has

limits, and cannot do it all alone. Collaborative

efforts between these two professions will

inevitably contribute to the process of serving

clients in the best way possible, and helping the

community prosper.

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CLASSIC’s WALK-IN ADVOCACY CLINIC is for

people seeking legal information, basic legal

services, including representation to come

for an intake, on a first-come, first-serve

basis. The Walk-In Advocacy Clinic is

Monday and Wednesday afternoons from

1:00 PM to 4:30 PM.

The W.A.C. provides legal services and

advocacy in:

* Landlord Tenant

* Social Assistance

* Human Rights

* Employment Insurance

* Workers’ Compensation

* Small Claims Court

* Disciplinary and Parole Hearings

* Immigration and Refugee Claims

&

CLASSIC also administers a LEGAL ADVICE

CLINIC. This is where clients have the

opportunity to have a one half-hour

consultation with a practicing lawyer. The

Legal Advice Clinic is through appointment

only on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons

and evenings.

The L.A.C. deals mainly in the areas of:

* Civil Law

* Criminal Law

* Family Law

CLASSIC would like to

thank our funders:

Affinity Credit Union,

City of Saskatoon,

College of Law,

Community Initiatives

Fund,

Law Foundation of

Saskatchewan,

Ministry of Justice,

Saskatoon Community

Foundation

(PotashCorp and

Cameco),

University of

Saskatchewan, and

United Way.

As a result of your

continued support

CLASSIC is able to

achieve its goals and

mandates!