INFORMATION FOR UOTTAWA STUDENTS

The TDP partners with the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law to provide students with an opportunity to work with lawyers and paralegals providing legal services to TDP clients. The TDP course is open to second- and third-year law students and runs from May to April each year. The May 2025 – April 2026 application process for the TDP Access to Justice course is now open!

To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to TDP.PCC@gmail.com.

Interested students can contact us for more information.

TDP also has a partnership with Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC). Each year, our PBSC student volunteers conduct research and develop and deliver public legal education materials.

This program should be of particular interest to students who work or hope to work in poverty law, criminal law, constitutional or administrative law, and to students interested in research and writing about socioeconomic rights and access to justice.

Responsibilities

Selected student caseworkers provide a range of services to their clients under the supervision of practicing lawyers. Students are also expected to contribute to TDP’s outreach activities, which include organizing legal information workshops/presentations at community organizations in Ottawa. Caseworker responsibilities include:

  • Holding intake at community organizations on Fridays approximately once a month
  • Conducting client interviews
  • Drafting and delivering legal advice and information
  • Drafting legal arguments, and correspondence with prosecutors
  • Appearing in court (ie. assisting with pleas and trials)
  • Providing legal information in community-based settings
  • Conducting outreach with community partners with the goal of making our service more accessible to our clients

Students selected for the program are expected to participate from May 2025 to April 2026, for a total of 6 credits.

  • Students receive 3 credits from a Student Proposed Internship over summer 2025
  • Students receive another 3 credits from taking CML 2579 - Stage en Accès à la justice during the 2025/2026 school year.

Students choose the term in which their total 6 credits apply (autumn or winter). The course is open to students in French Common Law, le Programme de droit canadien, and English Common Law.

Qualifications

  • Experience and/or interest in supporting vulnerable individuals and equity-seeking groups
  • Comfort working in a harm reduction environment
  • Strong time management and organizational skills
  • Cultural sensitivity, and awareness of colonization

Fluency in French and in other languages is an asset but not required.

STATISTICS

From 2003 to 2020 the TDP collected over 1,300 tickets for:

  • Illegal camping ($100)
  • Soliciting without authority ($95)
  • Possession of liquor in contravention of provincial law under the National Capital Commission Traffic and Property Regulations ($125)
  • Abandoning material likely to become litter under ON’s Environmental Protection Act ($130)
  • Failure to leave under the Trespass to Property Act ($95)
  • Public intoxication under the Liquor License Act (which could result in detention)
  • Ottawa city by-law offences such as failure to provide proof of full transit fare ($125)
  • Vending near a highway ($150)