The Indigenous Human Rights Program is a partnership between PBSC and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). The purpose of the program is to combat anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination by working with Friendship Centres to build knowledge about human rights amongst urban Indigenous communities, and to empower individuals to make decisions about their rights. We do this through free human rights legal clinics located directly within Friendship Centres in Ontario, and the PBSC Indigenous Human Rights Podcast.

A first of its kind in Canada, the program is led by an Advisory Council and two Elders. It is supported by partners the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Legal Support Centre, and McCarthy Tétrault, and by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, and Lakehead University Bora Laskin Faculty of Law. 

The Indigenous Human Rights Program would not be possible without the generous support of its funders. In 2019, PBSC won the American College of Trial Lawyers' prestigious Emil Gumpert Award. These funds acted as seed money to develop the program and tackle an unexpected but necessary pivot to virtual legal services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. The Indigenous Human Rights Program was then generously funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario Access to Justice Fund during 2021-2022. Today, the Indigenous Human Rights Clinic at Odawa Native Friendship Centre is supported by a grant from the Community Grants Program - Ottawa Community Foundation.

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CLINICS

We develop, launch, and operate Indigenous Human Rights Clinics with and within Friendship Centres. These Clinics give free summary legal advice and information about human rights and discrimination to the urban Indigenous community. Click the buttons to learn more about our Clinics at the Friendship Centres below.

EPISODE 6 Farewell Fallon and Flint: Reflecting on what we've learned and imagining a better future

In this episode, hosts Fallon and Flint announce that they are graduating from law school and moving on from the podcast. Fallon and Flint reflect on what they have learned from our guests over the past two years, and they share how they hope the human rights legal system will change in the future. Thank you Fallon and Flint! Through a pandemic and the demands of law school, you helped to shine a light on so many important stories. To all of our listeners: we'll be introducing you to our new hosts soon, so stay tuned!

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students & lawyers trained

As a Cree law student interested in working with Indigenous communities, being part of the Indigenous Human Rights Program has been an incredibly valuable and rewarding experience. The cultural competency and human rights training, as well as the practical experience, have been my favorite parts so far. So many practical skills, like interviewing clients and trauma-informed lawyering practices, are not taught in a traditional law school class and I am especially grateful for the opportunity to learn and practice these skills in the context of Indigenous human rights.

- PBSC law student, University of Ottawa

200+

community members reached

User friendly was key. A quick summary of my issue was met with a thorough response. It was appreciated.

- Odawa Native Friendship Centre Indigenous Human Rights Clinic client, 2021

1500+

listeners

I believe that the podcast's greatest value is that it provides encouraging words for other Indigenous Peoples listening in. When I listen to each episode, I think of that person's courage and I'm inspired by their resiliency to stand up to those who discriminated against them. Their strength emboldens me to also stand up to racism. I believe the stories shared on the podcast are exemplary of our people's perseverance and they deserve to be heard. 

- Indigenous Human Rights Podcast listener

Odawa Native Friendship Centre Clinic Funder

Pilot Program Funder

Seed Funder

Mo Thunder (They/Them/Theirs) is Onkwehonwe [Onyota’a:ka with family ties to Oneida Nation of the Thames x Aamjiwnaang First Nation] and French-Canadian. They’re a non-binary, neuroemergent artist x visual storyteller from a small town along the St. Clair River and are currently based on One Dish One Spoon Territory x Tkaronto (Toronto), which is a Kanyen'kéha: (Mohawk) word for ‘where there are trees standing in the water’.