BarTalk October 2003
Volume 15, Number 5

Small Project Grants Approved
Chair Don Silversides, QC is pleased to announce that the following 28 Small Project Grants totalling $258,580 were approved at the June 14, 2003 Board of Governors’ meeting:

B.C. Courthouse Library Society, User and Potential-user Survey Project - $15,000

Voice of the Cerebral Palsied of Greater Vancouver, Creating Trusts for People with Disabilities - $15,000

Sto:lo Nation, Sto:lo Nation Family Justice Project - $15,000

Jewish Family Service Agency of Vancouver, Legal Education and Information in Russian - $15,000

Pivot Legal Society, Sex-trade Law Reform Project - $15,000

Planned Parenthood Association of B.C., Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights - $14,950

B.C. Iranian Seniors’ Society, Understanding the Canadian Legal System - $13,302

Women’s Resource Society of the Fraser Valley, Punjabi Radio Project - $13,090

Central Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society, Family Justice Project - $12,535

West Coast Prison Justice Society, Prisoner Advocacy Training - $12,350

Greater Vancouver Law Students’ Legal Advice Society, File Tracking System Upgrade - $11,000

B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, Freedom of Information and Privacy Training for Non-profits - $10,000

Law Courts Education Society, Informational Handouts for Self-Represented Litigants - $10,000

Secwepemc Cultural Education Society, Restorative Justice Education - $10,000

B.C. Association of Specialized Victim Assistance and Counselling Programs, Review of the Lobbyists Registration Act - $9,000

Chetwynd Women’s Resource Centre, Women and the Law - $8,490

Lesbian and Gay Immigration Task Force (Legit Vancouver), Facilitators Workshop/LEGIT Public Education Web site - $7,500

Tri-City Women’s Resource Society, Legal Information and Advocacy - $6,212

Vancouver Community Network, Domestic Workers Computer Literacy - $6,000

Surrey Women’s Centre Society, Family Law Workshops - $5,780

John Howard Society of the Lower Mainland, Planning for Parole Booklet - $5,700

Progressive Intercultural Community Services Society, South Asian Seniors’ Legal Education - $5,000

Lower Similkameen Community Services Society, Keremeos Family Law Seminars - $4,971

Cowichan Valley Intercultural and Immigrant Aid Society, Critical Legal Information for Multicultural Populations on Vancouver Island - $4,500

Multicultural Helping House Society, Empowering Filipino Seniors through Legal Education - $4,000

Kamloops Bar Association, History of the Law in Kamloops and Region - $3,200

B.C. Settlement and Integration Workers Association, Workshops on Immigration and Refugee Protection Act - $3,000

Wachiay Friendship Center, Aboriginal Poverty Law Project - $3,000

Profile of a Project
The Law Foundation provided project grants totalling $43,300 in years 2001 and 2002 to support the Volunteer Legal Advocacy Program (VLAP) for the B.C. Division of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often-disabling disease of the central nervous system – the brain and the spinal cord. More than 5,000 British Columbians live with MS. While MS is the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada, it affects each person differently. MS is a difficult disease for people and their families to live with, because its unpredictable physical and emotional effects will be with them for the rest of their lives. Most people are diagnosed with MS between the ages of 20 to 40. Often they have not yet established themselves financially. Most people with MS end up living in poverty.

People affected with MS encounter a range of legal issues such as wrongful dismissal, human rights complaints due to lack of duty to accommodate, and denial of benefits such as disability benefits, Canada Pension Plan, long-term disability coverage, and the disability tax credit.

By the end of the project, the MS Society Volunteer Legal Advocacy Program had 20 lawyers in Vancouver (primarily from Davis & Company), five in Kamloops, and had set up protocols with the Salvation Army in Nanaimo, the Law Centre in Victoria and with Beacon Law Centre in Sidney to assist clients. The program also recruited and trained seven lay advocates in the Lower Mainland and one in the Kamloops area. The lay advocates supported 127 people and the VLAP lawyers assisted 29 clients. The VLAP also produced five resource booklets: Community and Legal Resources; CPP Disability Benefits; Advocacy; Long-Term Disability; and Human Rights. More than 5,000 booklets have been distributed.

For more information on the program, or to volunteer for VLAP, please contact Adrianne Boothroyd at 604-602-3204 (or e-mail adrianne.boothroyd@mssociety.ca).

This article was published in the October 2003 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.