SOME HISTORY:

SALCO began in 1999 as an initiative by two former law students working at Parkdale Community Legal Services who noted the growing South Asian clientele and its unique legal needs. Since 1999 SALCO has been working to establish a permanent legal clinic to serve the growing needs of low-income South Asians in a culturally and linguistically sensitive manner.

SALCO received its initial funding from a variety of sources including Legal Aid Ontario and the Law Foundation of Ontario to do project work on access to justice for low-income South Asians. After a number of years of temporary funding SALCO was given permanent funding by Legal Aid Ontario and is now recognized as the 80th and newest permanent legal aid clinic in the province of Ontario.

DID YOU KNOW:

South Asians represent the largest and fastest growing visible minority group in Toronto, as demonstrated in Statistics Canada data released in January 2003. Between 1991 and 2001, the South Asian population more than doubled from 235,500 to 473,800. South Asians account for 28% of all Toronto's visible minorities. More than one half (52%) of all South Asians in Canada reside in the Toronto area.

At the same time, studies show that a large percentage of the South Asian community live in impoverished circumstances, falling into the low-income category that would require assistance from LAO in Ontario. 34.6% of South Asian families in Toronto live below the Statistics Canada Low Income Cut Off. Among this group, more than 50% of all Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Tamil families are living in poverty.

There are significant linguistic, educational and cultural barriers facing members of the South Asian community seeking access to legal resources underscoring the need for specialized legal assistance. There is a particular need for legal assistance in the area of immigration law, given the vast number of recent arrivals to Canada among Toronto's South Asian community.

The 2005 Legal Aid Ontario evaluation of SALCO indicated, that, given the growing number of South Asians in Canada, “SALCO could be deemed a needed and valuable legal aid service in Ontario.” South Asians were the largest minority group in Ontario in 2001, accounting for 26% of all visible minorities. Within Toronto, the South Asian population represents half a million people. Outside of Toronto, Peel region has the largest South Asian suburban population. India is the largest source country for recent immigrants to Mississauga, and in Brampton South Asians comprise one out of five residents.

SALCO specializes in poverty law, with an emphasis on immigration, human rights and income security related matters. Of the 21 ethno-racial groups with 30% or more of their population living below the low-income cut-off (LICO), almost a quarter are South Asian groups, namely Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Tamil and Sri-Lankans. Further, three South Asian countries, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, were in the top ten countries of finalized Immigration and Refugee Board decisions.