Legal information and news from across Ontario

Our monthly newsletter highlights legal information resources, news, and events from CLEO and across Ontario. Find more resources in the Your Legal Rights collection.

Resources from community organizations

What workers need to know about wage theft

The Workers Action Centre's Primer: An organizers guide to wage theft explains:

the high rate of wage theft in Ontario,
its impact, and
what workers can do.

Wage theft affects migrant, racialized, and low-wage workers the most. It can include unpaid hours, missing overtime, late wages, and wage misclassification.

Campaign to build support for immigrants and refugees

The Canadian Council for Refugees has launched We're Better Together, a campaign to strengthen public support for immigrants and refugees amid:

rising anti-immigrant sentiment, and
cuts to newcomer services.

A research-based Message Guide accompanies the campaign. It offers key messages, a simple persuasive framework, and practical tools to counter misinformation, while emphasizing shared values like community and fairness.

Confronting anti-Black racism for Black LGBTQ+ newcomers

The 519 has launched a community-driven project called Sharing Truth. Building Power. Driving Change. It's aimed at addressing the unique racism, xenophobia, and queerphobia experienced by Black LGBTQ+ newcomers in Ontario.

Resources include:

an Anti-Oppression Practice Toolkit for service providers, which offers sector-specific guidance, trauma-informed practices, and reflection tools
Empowerment Tip Sheets for LGBTQ+ newcomers on housing, health care, employment, immigration, and community spaces

Culturally grounded support for Indigenous women

Operated by Beendigen, Talk4Healing is a free, confidential phone, text, and chat service that offers culturally grounded support for Indigenous women across Ontario. The service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It provides crisis counselling, referrals, and guidance toward personal healing. It’s available in 14 languages, including English, Cree, Ojibwe, and Oji-Cree. Contact the helpline at 1-855-554-4325.

Guidance on fees for medical reports

The Income Security Advocacy Centre has released a fact sheet to help community legal clinics address the high fees some doctors charge for medical documents.

It outlines doctors' obligations and fair billing practices to:

support Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
applications, and
reduce barriers for clients needing timely medical records.

It also highlights the rules that require fees to be reasonable and considerate of a patient's ability to pay.

What's happening across Ontario

Conference to address public legal education in a time of change

CLEO and the Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) will co-host the upcoming Public Legal Education Association of Canada (PLEAC) conference. The theme is Explore and Innovate: Public legal education in a time of change.

The event takes place February 18 and 19, 2026, in Ottawa. There's an extra day for public legal education providers on February 20. Registration is open.

New online courses for immigration and refugee workers

OCASI's LearnAtWork program offers a wide range of free, self-directed, e-learning courses for professionals in the immigrant and refugee-serving sector. The interactive modules support ongoing skill development and career growth. All are designed and hosted by OCASI.

New free courses include:

Serving Youth in Newcomer Communities (SYNC)
Foundations of Settlement Work Level 2
Creating Positive Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Newcomers Level 1

Registration is open.

Online orientation for refugee claimants

The Virtual Ready Tour, hosted by FCJ Refugee Centre, is an online orientation session for refugee claimants in Canada. It's aimed at people who have a hearing scheduled or will have one in the future.

With staff from the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, the session covers:

what to expect at your refugee hearing
how the hearing proceeds
who will be there
how to prepare

The Virtual Ready Tours are free and happen twice a month. The next session is Thursday, January 8, 2026, from noon to 2:30 p.m.

A complementary toolkit offers the same type of guidance in a detailed, accessible format. The kit helps claimants feel confident and informed for their refugee hearing.

Class action lawsuit for Black inmates

The Federal Court has approved a class action lawsuit for all Black persons who claim physical or emotional and psychological abuse:

while incarcerated in a Correctional Service Canada jail at any time between April 17, 1985, and December 13, 2023, and
who were alive on December 13, 2023.

Help protect seniors from scams

The Advocacy Centre for the Elderly (ACE) is collecting real-life stories from seniors and families affected by scams. These stories will be featured in short educational videos shared on ACE's YouTube channel and at community events. They’ll include insight from legal and police professionals.

ACE is looking for:

people 55 years of age and older who have experienced scams or their family members
legal professionals
police officers with relevant experience

Anyone who's interested can visit the ACE website. Or contact Kimber-lee Wargalla at kimberlee.wargalla@ace.clcj.ca or 416-598-2656 ext. 1231.

What's new from CLEO Connect

Fill out our survey and win a $50 gift card

CLEO Connect is gathering feedback to help us improve our training, resources, and overall user experience. This is part of our ongoing commitment to supporting community workers and service providers across Ontario.

Please take a few minutes to complete our short End-of-Year Survey by December 18, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. You could win one of two $50 gift cards.

Your input is valuable for understanding what’s working well and identifying areas for improvement.

New workshop for health-care teams

CLEO Connect is offering a new workshop on Supporting patients with health-harming legal needs.

In this workshop, health-care providers will build their knowledge and skills to help low-income patients address health-harming legal needs. These might be needs related to:

safe and stable housing,
accessing income support,
family violence,
unsafe working conditions, or
other legal matters that can impact health.

To book a workshop for your health-care team, please complete our workshop request form.

Catch up on webinars

Webinar recording - Estate planning for Indigenous Peoples living on reserve
Webinar recording - Violence familiale et femmes immigrantes : identifier, comprendre et se protéger

What's happening at CLEO

Read our new AI research report

CLEO recently published a progress report about our research into using Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) to enhance CLEO's Guided Pathways.

Learn about how we're designing safe, transparent, and easy-to-use Gen AI to help people fill out their legal forms and take action.

Read December's On the Radar

This issue covers what's coming in 2026 for Employment Insurance (EI) rates and rent increases.