Category: Community posts

LSLAP Summer Program Update

Community posts
LSLAP
Free legal advice for low-income people in Metro Vancouver

by Emma Wilson
Peter A. Allard School of Law J.D. Candidate

LSLAP is re-opening its summer program as of today. We have begun booking clients for appointments at our clinics in Surrey, Richmond, Vancouver, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, North Vancouver and New Westminster. See our service listing on the Clicklaw HelpMap for clinic locations, hours, language support availability, and contact information (This listing will be updated in the coming weeks).

LSLAP provides free legal advice and representation (where appropriate) to low-income earning members of the public living in the lower mainland.

We are happy to take on cases for people dealing with issues including but not limited to:

  • Employment Insurance claims
  • Tenant-side Residential Tenancy issues
  • Human Rights Tribunal proceedings
  • Immigration Review Board
  • Employment Law (ESB and small claims court)
  • Workers Compensation Board
  • Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Pension claims
  • Summary proceedings in criminal court

For a list of the kind of services we can provide, as well as the areas of law in which we cannot assist, please refer to our previous blog post or our website. To book a clinic with LSLAP, please call our switchboard at 604-822-5791.

New Fact Sheet on Refusing Health Care: What are my Rights?

Community posts

Early 2015 has been a year of landmark cases, about physician-assisted dying in the Supreme Court of Canada, in addition to the Margot Bentley decision at the BC Court of Appeal.

nidus_new

This fact sheet addresses the law in BC

Most of the information available online is academic and focuses on what this means for legislatures (law-makers), but these decisions have implications for Canadians, and people in British Columbia. Different changes to the law could be made across Canada and in each province.

A new fact sheet produced by Nidus answers questions of more interest to the everyday person living in BC, such as:

  • Can I refuse health care? (Yes, there is law in BC saying that if you are 19 years or older and are “capable of informed consent”, you have the right to make your own decisions about care.)
  • Can I request help with dying when I am ready? (The short answer is no, but watch for changes.)
  • If I am incapable, can someone refuse care on my behalf?
    • What are the legal documents that apply?
  • Can a doctor refuse to give me life-supporting care? (This can be a confusing area of the law.)
    • What is the No CPR (Do Not Resuscitate) form?
  •  Is there a Registry for my documents? (Yes.)

To read more about the law in BC that governs giving, refusing and withdrawing consent for health care, see the new fact sheet by Nidus directly on their website here, and through the Clicklaw website here along with their other resources.