A new downtown legal clinic is offering its services to Toronto’s Korean population.

The mandate of the Korean Legal Clinic, which launched in mid-October, includes providing free legal advice to Koreans in the GTA in the Korean language who have a gross income of $60,000 or less, as well to improve the legal education of Korean-Canadians and establish a legal resource centre for the community, according to a release from the clinic.

Clinic executive director Marie Park told the Star the point of the clinic is to be able to offer services to Koreans in their native language.

“I think it’s important that that barrier is removed, so there’s an immediate level of comfort and trust,” she said. “I think the people who have used the services so far have valued that a lot, not just the language, but seeing a familiar face, knowing that our shared culture means we have shared experiences and we kind of understand each other.”

The clinic, which is operating as a pilot project for six months, became a reality through donations from the Korean-Canadian community as well as from three big firms, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Gowling WLG and McCarthy Tétrault.

“The goal of this clinic is to provide legal assistance to the community, but we’re also going to gather information on what kind of areas of law that community members need help with, in order to make a compelling funding application to organizations that fund these kinds of initiatives,” said Rosel Kim, a member of the clinic’s steering committee.

There are already several legal clinics serving specific communities in the GTA, including the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario and the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, though never one specific to the city’s Korean population.

Trying to secure funding from the provincially-funded legal aid plan would be an uphill battle, as the province slashed 30 per cent of Legal Aid Ontario’s budget this year, which has led to deep cuts to the budgets of many community legal clinics.

The founders of the Korean clinic are focused on getting funding through other means, including fundraising. They noted that according to the 2016 census, 32 per cent of Koreans in Canada were living below the low-income threshold. About 1.5 per cent of the population of Toronto identifies as Korean, according to the census.

The steering committee is hoping to raise more funds in the future, including with a fundraiser being held on Nov. 20, so that the clinic can become permanent and extend its office hours. For now, the clinic offers services at 31 Elm Street every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and has also received requests for assistance by phone and email.

“It’s like everything else, it’s all based on funding,” said Julia Shin Doi, another committee member and a founder of the Korean Canadian Lawyers Association. “Because I think the will and passion are there.”