We Are: We are the only registered charity in Western Canada providing specialized legal support to vulnerable children and youth. We are committed to improving the lives of vulnerable young people through our legal work.
We Aren’t: We do not provide legal support on criminal matters or to children involved in child protection proceedings. Those young people are referred to government agencies: the Youth Criminal Defence Office of Legal Aid Alberta and the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, respectively.
Our Mission: To provide legal advice and representation directly to vulnerable children and youth while building our community’s capacity to protect their legal rights by providing information, education and training.
Information: We answer questions about civil law matters and engage in public education.
Advice: We help young people deal with matters related to:
Representation: Our lawyers represent young people 19 years of age and under who do not otherwise have access to legal services or assistance.Our programs increase knowledge about the legal issues and rights facing young people and strive to reduce family conflict and future developmental harm, while improving outcomes for children in circumstances that require legal intervention by alleviating some of their exposure to chronic and serious early stressors.
We Care! Pregnancy, Parenting & Prevention: We work with both the Calgary Board of Education (Louise Dean Centre), and the Calgary Catholic School Division (Kara Life Program), as well as Highbanks Society, to assist young women who are pregnant or young people who are parenting with custody and access, wills, guardianship, child support and completion of their taxes.
Youth Wellness In Action: In order to reach young people, help them stay in school and contribute to their overall wellbeing, we offer ongoing legal clinics in the City of Calgary at locations such as Forest Lawn High School.
Young Voices, Healthy Lives: Our lawyers provide representation and advice to young people caught up in their parents’ high-conflict divorce/separation.
“Ask A Lawyer” Online Youth Legal Clinic: Our youthlaw.ca website provides young people with the opportunity to get legal advice directly by email. FAQ’s provide information to the public about Alberta civil law topics affecting youth.
Pro Bono Training & Opportunities: As specialists in child representation, we have developed extensive family law training materials for lawyers to represent young people in custody and access/parenting matters. We also provide pro bono opportunities to engage lawyers who wish to give back to the community.
For more information on any of our programs, please contact us at 403-207-9029.
You can make a difference in the lives of young Calgarians. An increased demand for our services has made it challenging for CLERC to meet the needs of every child who needs our help. The waitlist for young people requiring our assistance is currently at 12-18 months.
DONATE – Help us meet our $85,000 goal to eliminate our waitlist for services
Your donation will help CLERC:
If you are a lawyer or paralegal professional and are looking for pro bono opportunities, we’d love to hear from you!
If you are not a lawyer, we could still use your help, especially for event support at our annual gala.
David Pickersgill
587-393-2753
Email