Posts by Celia Chandler

Don’t Miss It – May 4, 2019: CHFT Spring Durham Education Event – Human Rights

April 25th, 2019 by Celia Chandler

Human rights is a topic that comes up daily in the work we do with housing co‑ops.  Some recent examples:

  • how to accommodate dogs in a pet‑free co‑op;
  • is the medical note provided is enough to justify replacing carpet with laminate;
  • what is the best way to finance the cost of a stair lift in a townhouse (do we really have to?);
  • can we evict for noises that might relate to a mental health disability; and
  • can a maintenance person with a drug addiction continue to work at the co‑op.

If these are the kinds of questions that are coming up in your co‑op, come to my session on May 4, 2019 to talk through what the co‑op’s obligations are and how best to meet them.

CHFT has a long history of education in Toronto but recently they’ve expanded their reach to Durham.  I was excited to participate in the first CHFT Fall Durham Education Day in 2018 and am pleased to be asked back.

May 4’s event will include lunch and an afternoon workshop from CHFT staff member Anjala Kulasegaram, about what makes a good board.  You won’t want to miss that.

Registration information is here.

Join us!  We’d love to see you.

Medically assisted death in Canada: Reflections on the process

January 31st, 2019 by Celia Chandler

Celia Chandler with her partner Jack Sikorski in 2018. Photo: Kate O’Connor/Sweetheart Empire

Iler Campbell’s Pro Bono column for rabble.ca (where this article was first published in three parts) is no stranger to the issue of medical assistance in death (MAID). We have contributed to the discussion a number of times in the last four years.

What is new is that I can now provide a firsthand account of a medically assisted death. At 6 p.m. on Monday, November 19, 2018, surrounded by his closest family, my husband, Jack Sikorski, consented to a medically assisted death. Jack’s cancer had progressed and his quality of life was greatly diminished; he was grateful for the choice to prevent further suffering and die on his own terms, as he had lived. And I am profoundly grateful, too.

Continue reading “Medically assisted death in Canada: Reflections on the process”

When there’s a will, there is a way!
Supreme Court declares Henson Trusts not to be considered assets… for now

January 28th, 2019 by Celia Chandler

On Friday, January 25, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada released a very important decision for:

  1. people with disabilities who have or will inherit money;
  2. people who are leaving money to people with disabilities; and
  3. housing providers which calculate rent subsidies.

In a decision referred to as S.A. v. Metro Vancouver Housing, the Supreme Court decided that the money left for SA in a Henson Trust is not considered an asset for the purposes of determining eligibility for Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation (MVHC) rental subsidy.

Continue reading “When there’s a will, there <em><u>is</u></em> a way! <br/> Supreme Court declares Henson Trusts not to be considered assets… for now”

Thanks from Celia

November 26th, 2018 by Celia Chandler

As you know from the Iler Campbell LLP blog last week,  my husband, Jack Sikorski, died last Monday, November 19, 2018.  Originally diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2016, Jack’s cancer spread this year and I spent the last 10 weeks at home. I’m grateful for the time I was able to spend with Jack, including being with him and his children at his medically assisted death. As Canadians, we are so fortunate to have this choice now. 

Thank you for your expressions of concern over these months and particularly in the last few days. How comforting to receive support from such a large circle of friends, many with your own cancer stories.   Thanks to clients who agreed to work with my colleagues in my absence and of course, to those colleagues for so ably picking up my work. I am indeed privileged.  

I am devastated and exhausted but also back at work, not knowing quite what else to do with myself and knowing that I’d feel better back in my comfort zone. Please feel free to direct your legal inquiries to me again and I will do my very best to serve you.  

Thank you again, Celia

The Law Society is flirting with the idea of doing away with articling. Should it?

July 26th, 2018 by Celia Chandler

This article was first published on rabble.ca

One hundred thirty-seven — yes, that’s right: 137. And last year, 150!

These are the number of applicants we received for one articling position for the period July 2019 to May 2020. For readers not in law in Ontario, articling is a 10-month work placement under the supervision of a lawyer. Completing articles is a condition to practising law in Ontario.

The competition for securing articles is so intense that the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) has explored alternatives and is flirting with the idea of giving up on articling altogether.

Bad idea. We don’t want to lose an important training ground for progressive lawyers. Our law firm, Iler Campbell LLP, is unusual as a place where young lawyers can gain experience working for non‑profits, charities, co‑ops, social enterprise and the like. We see hiring articling students as an obligation to the legal profession and to the progressive organizations that we serve. Our tagline is “A law firm for those who want to make the world a little bit better.” Articling here and in other like‑minded firms helps build a cadre of advocates for that better world.

Continue reading “The Law Society is flirting with the idea of doing away with articling. Should it?”

Size as a human right in a #MeToo world

March 5th, 2018 by Celia Chandler

This article was first published on rabble.ca

In May 2017, Quebec court judge Jean-Paul Braun decided on a case in which a 17-year-old young woman was sexually assaulted by a cab driver. Justice Braun said, “you could say she’s a little overweight, but she has a pretty face, huh?” and went on to suggest that perhaps the victim was a “little flattered” by the sexual attention, implying that her size made her unattractive to most men.

We’re living in a time when sexual assault and fat‑shaming are both concepts receiving a lot of attention. While sexual assault has dominated headlines and those headlines appear to be affecting behaviour and in some cases, laws, a larger discussion of fat‑shaming hasn’t quite broken through to the mainstream in the same way.

In Canada, size is still an acceptable basis for discrimination, not protected by human rights legislation. It ought to be. And in certain lights, the two issues are different sides of the same (sexist) coin.

Continue reading “Size as a human right in a #MeToo world”