Has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your employment or housing situation? Have you had trouble finding out what your rights are during this unprecedented time?

Join our informational webinars where legal professionals will be covering rights and responsibilities related to employment and housing (provincial laws) and immigration (federal law) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are six webinars covering region-specific issues and one national webinar that covered immigration and refugee protection during the pandemic. All webinars addressed LGBTQI2S specific issues. See the below videos to watch the video pertaining to your region!

Webinar Schedule

  • Feb 16: National COVID-19 LGBTQI Immigration Webinar 
  • Feb 23: Western Canada - BC  
  • Mar 2: Eastern Canada – NS, PEI, NL
  • Mar 9: Central Canada – ON
  • Mar 16: Prairies – AB, SK, MB
  • Mar 23: Questions juridiques pour francophones
  • Mar 30: Yukon 

*Registration is now closed.

Webinars

Mar 30: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Yukon Territory

Also available on Facebook.

Mar 23: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | questions juridiques pour francophones

Also available on Facebook.

Mar 16: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Prairies (AB, SK, MB)

Also available on Facebook.

Mar 9: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Central Canada (ON) 

Also available on Facebook.

Mar 2: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Eastern Canada (NS, PEI, NL) 

Also available on Facebook.

Feb 23: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Western Canada (BC) 

Available in English and Français

Also available on Facebook

Feb 16: National COVID-19 LGBTQI Immigration Webinar 

Available in English, Français, and Español

Panelist Bios

Mar 30: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Yukon

Lori Fox

Lori Fox (they/them) is a queer, non-binary writer and journalist based in Whitehorse, YT. Their work, which focuses on issues of gender and class inequality, has appeared most recently with Vice, The Guardian, CBC North and The Globe and Mail. They are currently working on their first book, a collection of essays about gender, capitalism and class, This Has Always Been a War to be published Spring 2022 with Arsenal Pulp Press. You can find them on twitter @fox_e_lori.

Mar 23: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | questions juridiques pour francophones

Kim Bouchard

Kim Bouchard est avocate de formation et elle est responsable des services juridiques au Mouvement Action-Chômage de Montréal, un groupe communautaire de défense et de promotion des droits des chômeurs et chômeuses. Depuis le début de sa pratique, elle a un intérêt particulier pour la justice sociale et l’accès à la justice pour tou.te.s.

Mostafa Henaway

Mostafa Henaway (he/him) is a Ph.D. Candidate at Concordia University in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment. He is also a long-time organizer at the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montréal. The Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal which organizes with precarious im/migrant workers for their status, workplace dignity regardless of their status from undocumented workers, to temporary foreign workers, and those living with precarious status fighting for workplace and immigrant justice.

Niel La Dode

For almost ten years Niel La Dode (he/them) has been involved in migrant justice movements. Niel also has been involved with QTBPOC refugee’s organization in Montreal. He is currently working for tenant rights with Comité d’action de Parc Extension (CAPE) who allow him to connect to an anti-gentrification and anti-poverty work in neighborhood of Parc Extension Montreal.

Mar 16: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Prairies (AB, SK, MB)

Davey Francis Cole

Davey Francis Cole (they/them) is a community organizer/harm reduction advocate/part time drag performer and QPOC Winnipeg party planner. They are an indigenous non binary Two spirit queer who works as director of WE24 (West End 24 Hour Safe Space), an overnight safe space for youth in the west end of Winnipeg and is on the management team for Spence Neighbourhood Association, a community renewal organization. They are actively involved in various other community orgs and initiatives including Bannock Babes and Sunshine House promoting social justice, community care and land back. 

Tobi Osho

Tobi Osho helped start the Homeless Diversion Project at the Centre For Newcomers. Tobi is also the LGBTQ+ Program Case Manager/ Rainbow RAP Coordinator at the Center for Newcomers. They also volunteer for the End of the Rainbow Foundation and are passionate about helping refugees settle in Canada. Tobi has a B.Engr. in Electrical/Electronics and a Diploma in Social Work from Mount Royal University in Calgary.

Jack Saddleback

Jack Saddleback (he/him) is a Cree Two-Spirit Transgender gay man from the Samson Cree Nation in Maskwacis, Alberta. As  the Co-Interim Executive Director with OUTSaskatoon and the Co-Chair of the 2 Spirits in Motion Society, Mr Saddleback is a staunch advocate for Two Spirit topics, mental health, Indigenous engagement, gender and sexual diversity issues, sexual health, and HIV & AIDS awareness.

Mar 9: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Ontario Canada

Monique Woolnough

Monique Woolnough has worked in the community legal clinic system as a student and lawyer since 2010. She brings a particular focus on how Canadian administrative legal systems (including social welfare and housing) impact Indigenous peoples as part of ongoing colonization. She has been involved in organizing around Indigenous sovereignties, environmental justice, anti-racism and transforming rape culture since she was 15.

Leisha Neuman

Leisha Neuman (they/them) is a Two-Spirit person currently residing in N’Swakamok, also known as Sudbury. They are of mixed European and Algonquin ancestry whose relations come from Mattawa and the Madawaska Valley. Leisha graduated from Georgian College from the Aboriginal Community and Social Development program and, more recently, from the Indigenous Specialized Social Service Worker program at Cambrian College. They are currently working at Ontario Aboriginal HIV/AIDS Strategy (OAHAS), developing Two-Spirit educational material for the community.

Sarah Khan

Sarah Khan (she/her) is a law student studying on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy which includes the nations of Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomie. In the past 2.5 years, Sarah is grateful for her experiences on this land, the legal and activist education that she has received, and the friendships that she has built. Her biggest achievement at law school has been organizing with Justicia for Migrant Workers. She looks forward to a future where sustainable farming would underpin the essential rights and labour of migrant farm workers.

Samantha Peters

Samantha Peters (she/they) is a lawyer, researcher and educator, whose work focuses on labour, employment and human rights law. She is also the Black Legal Mentor-in-Residence/Mentor Juridique pour la Communauté Noire at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law for the 2020 – 2021 academic year. Samantha engages in work at the intersection of law, education and policy, ranging from law reform initiatives to legal education to legislative research. She is the Director of Legal Initiatives and Public Interest at Black Femme Legal, a project funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario, which provides legal and non-legal resources and support to Black 2SLGBTQI+ workers across Ontario through a Black femme-centered approach, lens and praxis. She is the National Vice-President of Equity and Anti-Oppression at the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, a member of the City of Toronto’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) Council Advisory Body and a Pro Bono Lawyer where she provides free legal advice, brief services and referrals to women-identified survivors of domestic violence.

Elizabeth Ha

Elizabeth Ha (she/her) is an organizer for Justicia for Migrant Workers. She is an Equity Vice President at the Ontario Federation of Labour, Vice Chair of OPSEU’s Coalition of Racialize Workers, and Chair of OPSEU’s Provincial Human Rights Committee. Most importantly, she is the mother of 2 kids, Nola and Ruby. Currently she is working closely with Migrant Workers in the community who are hugely affected by this pandemic.

Mar 2: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar | Eastern Canada (NS, PEI, NL)

Douglas Hill

Douglas Hill (he/him) is a Grievance and Adjudication Officer who has 17 years of experience in litigation and mediation from working in the Representation and Legal Services Branch of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. His duties and responsibilities include representing PSAC members across Canada before various arbitration and adjudication tribunals on issues concerning their grievances and human rights complaints. Douglas is a proud father of 3 children and a former basketball player at Dalhousie University where he obtained a BA degree. His love of golf and advocating for people’s rights led him to be one of the founding members of the Black Lives Matter Golf initiatives in 2020.

David McQuillan

David McQuillan (he/him) is the Tenant Support Worker with Community Legal Information (CLI) in Charlottetown, PE. In his role, David supports tenants by providing direct client service, creating plain-language legal information resources, and delivering legal information workshops.

Jude Benoit

Jude Benoit (they/them) a proud Mi’kmaq Two Spirit person, barista and artist. Living in Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland) currently in St. John’s as an urban native and currently working as quadrangle’s project coordinator, they also co-founded the 2SLGBTQIA+ neighboring pod which is a grassroots mutal aid group for the queer community. Through the pandemic they helped with several projects with a focus on food security and access to mental health supports.

Feb 23: COVID-19 Legal Info Webinar |Western Canada (BC) 

Mebrat Beyene

Mebrat (she/her) is an Eritrean, born in Ethiopia and raised in Montreal. As executive director of WISH and co-chair of Living in Community, Mebrat supports women and initiatives related to the health and safety of women and gender-diverse people engaged in street-based sex work. She has worked in social justice, and non-profit management and community development for over twenty years. Mebrat has worked closely with women and women-serving organizations as a Programs Officer with Status of Women Canada; and served as executive director of PeerNetBC. She is also a recipient of the 2020 YWCA Metro Vancouver Women of Distinction Award in the Non-Profit category. In a volunteer capacity, Mebrat sits on the boards of the Equality Fund and Pivot Legal Society; serves on the City of Vancouver’s Black History Month Planning Committee, and also volunteers with the Vancouver Youth Choir.

TJ Felix

TJ (they/them) is a Secwepemc First Nation artist, musician, activist, and uninvited guest on the unceded lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. Their lived experiences with homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and recovery have taught them the importance of community-based outreach, culturally sensitive resources, and peer support. TJ is a graduate of the Indigenous Land Stewardship certificate program at Native Education College, where they were encouraged to learn about their traditional laws, ceremonies, medicines, and language (Secwepemcstin). TJ hopes to incorporate these teachings into his approach to community education. As an urban Indigenous settler, they are dedicated to fostering good relations and learning from the local community. When TJ isn’t working with Pivot he’s usually reading comics, practicing with their band, or out on the land

Kevin Love

Kevin Love is a lawyer in CLAS’ Community Law Program, working primarily in the areas of mental health and workers’ rights. Kevin has represented clients at all levels of court, both federally and provincially, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to joining the Community Law Program, Kevin worked in CLAS’ Mental Health Law Program representing clients who were detained in psychiatric facilities under the Criminal Code. 

Feb 16: National COVID-19 LGBTQI Immigration Webinar 

Swathi Sekhar

Swathi Sekhar (she/her) runs her own immigration and refugee law practice in T’karonto (Toronto), with a focus on issues related to immigration detention and 2SLGBTQIA+ migrant communities. She strives to ground all her work within an anti-colonial, migrant justice framework. 

Meryem Benslimane

A graduate from University of Montreal with a Masters degree in International Studies and Law, Meryem Benslimane (she/her)/elle) is currently working at McGill University as an Equity and Diversity Advisor. Meryem came to McGill after working for many years with both community and international organizations such as UN Women, working tirelessly for women’s rights, as well as 2SLGBTQIA+ migrants and refugees’ rights. She has planned McGill’s very first Queer History Month, the first of its kind in Canada, launched in October 2018.

Michael Battista

Michael Battista (he/him) LL.B. (Queen’s) B.A. (Toronto) was called to the Ontario bar in 1992 and has been practicing immigration and refugee law exclusively since that time. He is certified as a specialist in Citizenship and Immigration law (Immigration and Refugee Protection) by the Law Society of Ontario. His legal practice involves a particular focus on immigration issues for the LGBTQI2S communities. He is adjunct professor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, where he was awarded the inaugural Teaching Innovation Award in 2018.