Who we are

About blac

The Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) is a not-for-profit corporation set up under the laws of Ontario in 2017. BLAC provides free legal services to low and no income Black Ontarians who are facing a legal issue directly related to anti-Black racism.

We work to combat individual and systemic anti-Black racism by:

Providing legal representation, summary legal advice and brief services to individual clients

Engaging in test case litigation, law reform and community development to improve the laws that affect low income people

Giving public legal information sessions to members of the public and other community agencies.

We help individual clients by:

Giving clients legal advice

Helping fill out forms

Representing clients at some tribunals and courts

Representing clients at some tribunals and courts

All services are free to those who qualify. Clients may be required to pay expenses associated with their case if they are able.

Meet our team
Meet our board of directors

ANTI-BLACK RACISM

We define anti-Black racism as policies and practices embedded within Canadian institutions that reflect and reinforce beliefs, attitudes, prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination that is directed at people of Black-African descent and is rooted in the unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization in Canada.

(Anti-Racism Directorate, Ontario; Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, City of Toronto).

ANTI-BLACK RACISM

We define anti-Black racism as policies and practices embedded within Canadian institutions that reflect and reinforce beliefs, attitudes, prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination that is directed at people of Black-African descent and is rooted in the unique history and experience of enslavement and colonization in Canada.

(Anti-Racism Directorate, Ontario; Confronting Anti-Black Racism Unit, City of Toronto).

MISSION

The mission of the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) is to educate, advocate, and litigate to combat individual and systemic anti-Black racism in Ontario.

  • We educate both inside and outside our community to empower through knowledge and change attitudes and behaviours that contribute to anti-Black racism;
  • We advocate for justice both inside and outside the systems and institutions that play integral roles in our lives as Black people, in order to achieve Black liberation; and
  • We litigate to break down barriers that preclude our full participation in society.
In doing so, we focus on working with our community and others with a goal of reciprocal and respectful listening and learning. Through rigorous community engagement and by challenging historically oppressive institutions, BLAC explores, understands, and re-imagines what it means to be Black in Ontario.
Image of young African American woman presenting to colleagues at a work meeting

VISION

The Black Legal Action Centre was created to challenge and eradicate individual and systemic anti-Black racism. Our vision is a society where anti-Black racism is named and meaningfully addressed; where the humanity and dignity of Black people are centred; where the laws and the legal system are reflective of the real experiences of Black people; and where racial equity and full participation of all Black people in society is achieved.