A new legal clinic serving Black Ontarians expects to be up and running by August.

The Black Legal Action Centre came into existence following a decision last year by Legal Aid Ontario to defund the African Canadian Legal Clinic over allegations of financial mismanagement.

While that clinic still exists despite the loss of its legal aid funding, the new Black Legal Action Centre will be funded by Legal Aid Ontario. Members of its interim board of directors are currently busy searching for an office location, hiring an executive director and planning community consultations, which they hope to kick off early this year.

“We had promised that we would keep the community informed all along,” board chair Zanana Akande told the Star in an interview. “We would certainly want to bring the clinic into existence in an atmosphere that was receptive and trusting, and we wanted to make sure that we healed any divisions because of the last clinic funding ending.”

According to its new website, the Black Legal Action Centre, or BLAC, “will work to combat individual and systemic anti-Black racism by providing legal representation; engaging in test case litigation, law reform, and community development; and delivering summary legal advice, brief services, and public legal education.”

Akande said the board will focus on ensuring representation from all parts of the province, and that the Black community can feel as if they have a real role to play in the development of the new clinic.

She also said she doesn’t envision any kind of competition with the African Canadian Legal Clinic.

“If a test case was being covered by the ACLC, that would be sufficient, unless there was some reason to join in, or add our support,” she said. “There is no shortage of cases.”

Another board member, Rinaldo Walcott, said it’s important that people know the new clinic will not just be focused on test cases — which can set legal precedents — but also the “nitty-gritty work,” such as helping an individual who cannot afford a lawyer.

“We also believe that some of the important work we need to do is around legal education for members of our community, so you’re going to see a clinic that has a much more integrated community profile, and a profile that is wide and broad,” he said, mentioning as examples being a voice on behalf of Black women, and queer and trans Black people.

“We’re definitely willing to do the hard work for the test cases but also the nitty-gritty work, the kinds of legal services people need in every day life.”

In a statement earlier this month, the CEO of Legal Aid Ontario, the provincial agency that provides funding to legal clinics and oversees the province’s legal aid plan, said the agency was “proud” to support the new clinic.

“This work is directly in line with our mandate to ensure access to justice for members of disadvantaged communities,” said CEO David Field. “(Legal Aid Ontario) looks forward to supporting BLAC in achieving this important goal.”