Find organizations that provide legal help in BC. Most services are free or low cost.
Advocacy services for issues including income assistance, disability assistance, maintaining tenancy, Canada Pension Plan, disability, employment insurance, debt, and other income support related programs. Please note, the advocate does not provide legal advice, is not a lawyer and does not cover Family Law concerns.
The BC Human Rights Clinic provides free legal assistance to people who have filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal. They provide summary advice, 1-2 hour legal consultations, and legal representation, if you’re eligible. The Short Services clinic provides free 30 minute appointments with a human rights lawyer or advocate.
The clinic provides advice, assistance, and representation to eligible clients who can’t afford a lawyer and who self-identify as Indigenous. They help with administrative and civil law matters, criminal matters, Aboriginal law/Indigenous legal issues, family law matters, child protection, human rights complaints, and more.
If you're eligible, the housing law clinic lawyer provides free legal advice and/or representation if you would like a Supreme Court Judge to review your Residential Tenancy Branch decision for a serious error or unfairness, if you need help enforcing an RTB monetary order, or if your housing situation falls outside the Residential Tenancy Act.
Pro bono (free) legal advocacy services to caregivers and other migrant workers. They help with immigration, employment issues, labour exploitation, and trafficking and human rights. They cover issues such as recovering lost wages, illegal recruitment fees, employment contracts, EI, immigration status, work permits, and temporary resident visas.
Free legal advice and representation on issues such as criminal summary offences, civil resolution, small claims, residential tenancy, WorkSafeBC, consumer protection, EI, CPP and Old-Age Pension, wills and estates, and immigration and refugee issues. They may draft certain types of legal documents such as demand letters, wills, and more.
To qualify for a legal aid lawyer, your legal problem must be covered by their legal aid rules and you must meet their financial guidelines. When applying, intake staff will ask you for complete and true information about your legal problem, income, savings, and assets. Proof of the financial information you provide is required.
The centres provide culturally appropriate information, advice, support, and representation directly to Indigenous people at the community level. While focused primarily on criminal law and child protection issues, they also offer services based on community and cultural needs.
A legal clinic for women who have experienced violence. Services are trauma informed and violence informed, culturally responsive, and offered in several languages. Staff, interns, and volunteer lawyers provide legal information, accompany you to court and legal appointments, appeal when legal aid has been denied, and help you prepare documents.
Parents Legal Centres (PLCs) provide a lawyer and an advocate to help parents in select locations settle their child protection matters early on and collaboratively (everyone works together).
