Iler Campbell LLP

Client Profile: Jean Tweed Centre

February 15th, 2019 by Iler Campbell

Jean Tweed was a woman who saw the need for a safe and supportive environment for women to address their substance use issues. She was a pioneer in advancing the cause of women-specific programming. In 1983, the Jean Tweed Centre was established in her honour.

Jean Tweed Centre has evolved and grown to become a leading community-based substance abuse, mental health and problem gambling agency for women in Ontario, offering a wide range of services including:

residential and day programming
out-patient programming including family and trauma counselling
individual counselling and continuing care
outreach services for women who are pregnant and parenting women, have concurrent mental health and substance use challenges or involved in the criminal justice system.
transition and supportive housing

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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.

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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:

people with disabilities who have or will inherit money;
people who are leaving money to people with disabilities; and
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.

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Client Profile: Tangled Art + Disability

January 22nd, 2019 by Iler Campbell

Cripping the Arts. January 24-26, 2019 at Harbourfront Centre. Cripping the Arts is co-hosted by British Counciel, Creative Users Projects, Tangled Art + Disability, Ryerson University and Harbourfront Centre.

Poster for Cripping the Arts: a three day festival of panel discussions, co-creative workshops, exhibitions and performances animating how Deaf and Disability arts and activism changes how we experience art and culture as well as the ways the sector contributes, and leads to, the achievements of disability rights and justice movements.

Tangled Art + Disability occupies an important space in Toronto’s arts landscape, dedicated to enhancing opportunities for Deaf, Mad, and Disability-identified artists. Since 2003, it has produced annual festivals, gallery exhibitions, performances, and more, employing hundreds of artists and attracting audiences in the thousands from all parts of the community.

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