About Us

About Us

Since January 2023, Pandemic Civil Legal Aid Advisory Committee  (PCLAAC) has been advising on processes to efficiently and more equitably provide legal aid, and evaluate the best ways QLaw’s programs can mitigate harms and redistribute power to ensure more equitable access to justice.

PCLAAC supports and advocates for 2SLGBTQ+ communities by engaging in ongoing dialogue with QLaw staff and making recommendations based on programmatic evaluations to ensure QLaw’s current and future programs, policies, and practices are meeting the needs of the community they serve.

The  PCLAAC is made up of 2SLGBTQ+ community members: who access QLaw Foundation legal services, who work and organize for justice solutions outside the legal system, as well as Pandemic-impacted individuals and QTBIPOC individuals who are most impacted by inequities in the legal system.  PCLAAC is born out of the COVID19 pandemic, and in a time of crisis.

QLaw and the  PCLAAC remain committed to centering the experiences of those most impacted by the ongoing pandemic, that many marginalized communities face, to inform its guidance and stewardship of the ways QLaw will continue to show up for community. The pandemic affects all of us regardless of health status, even if it materially and socially impacts disabled/immunocompromised people in more extreme ways. Forcing people back to work, eliminating funding, and normalizing mass death/mass disabling events impacts us all.

 PCLAAC is Important because:

The law and legal profession are rooted in a history of causing and perpetuating harm; disproportionately affecting people who are queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, undocumented, workers in the sex industry, and other folks under the 2SLGBTQ+ umbrella. Recognizing the gatekeeping function that the legal profession has traditionally played, PCLAAC, made up of individuals in the aforementioned groups, centers the communities most harmed by these systems of oppression by ensuring the programs and services provided by QLaw Foundation address these historical and ongoing harms. It is vital QLaw centers and relies on the voices of those most impacted, and therefore PCLAAC was created to reflect these community voices, and advocate for these communities within QLaw and its services.

Co-design:

Together, QLaw Foundation Staff, Board, and PCLAAC strengthen their individual and collective capacity to improve legal services, policies and practices by engaging in ongoing dialogue and collaboration.

They aim to stay grounded in the following commitments:

• PCLAAC and QLaw work to understand and dismantle the systemic harms to 2SLGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities to create more equitable legal aid and outcomes.
• QLaw staff and Board remain learners committed to an ongoing and iterative process with the PCLAAC.
• PCLAAC are seen and honored as leaders and experts.
• PCLAAC highlights concerns or observations around equity issues, from their community perspective, as insights for QLaw Foundation to examine and address when possible.
• PCLAAC is assisting QLaw in developing methods for welcoming, receiving, and responding to input from marginalized communities – specifically, QTBIPOC, disabled, and further impacted communities regarding the accessibility, effectiveness, and accountability of QLaw Foundation’s programming within communities.
• PCLAAC provides advice and experience on social, economic, and racial equity.
• PCLAAC assists in identifying best practices for improving and expanding equity to inform how QLaw operates.
• PCLAAC recommends best practices and actively supports community outreach, planning, and engagement around pandemic-related legal issues.
• QLaw remains accountable to PCLAAC with transparency when recommendations are realized.