After a 6-year legal journey that has seen many twists and turns, the 7 young Ontarians behind the landmark Mathur, et al. v. His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario go back to court this spring. Earlier this month, Ecojustice announced that the Court of Appeal for Ontario will hear the youths’ motion to […]
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OJEN’s Public Legal Education programming for racialized justice-involved youth is an example of our strategic commitment to engage directly with youth. Over the last year, OJEN delivered 12 PLEI programs throughout Ontario to 100 racialized youth in open and closed custody facilities and in one diversion program. The program meets youth where they are and invites […]
By: Crystal-Claire Simmonds The 19th Annual Sistahs-in-Law Retreat coincided with the first major snowfall of Toronto’s 2025 winter season. Although I braved the weather to make my way to the Queen’s Quay district downtown, I fully expected the event to be sparsely attended – perhaps just myself and the organizers. Instead, I was shocked to […]
By Marija Apostolovski For educators across Ontario, the end of summer looks different for everyone. Some spend the last weeks setting up classrooms, imagining the students who will soon fill them. Others savour slow mornings and warm coffee, enjoying the final days without alarm clocks. For a few, the pace of summer school has just […]
Reimagining the Justice System was a multi-session program supported by the Law Commission of Canada and hosted by Downtown Legal Services (DLS). A group of youth from the Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) program met with lawyers from DLS and took part in discussions exploring issues of law and justice. In the first half […]
I am a student from Bayview Glen and this coming September I am starting grade 12. I come from the co-op program offered by my school and have been doing a joint placement with OJEN and Justice Javed. This placement has opened my eyes to the field of law, and I’ve learned so much in […]
I am an incoming grade 12 student at Bayview Glen Independent School, and I started working at OJEN through the cooperative education program offered by my school. For the past four weeks, I have been doing a joint placement with OJEN and the Ontario Court of Justice alongside Justice Javed. This placement has truly been […]
During the last week of August, OJEN welcomed more than 70 law teachers to our annual Summer Law Institute (SLI). Over the two-day conference, teachers attended 9 workshops, heard from more than 20 speakers including the Chief Justice of Ontario, celebrated the exemplary achievements of one of their own and enjoyed networking opportunities with colleagues […]
Volunteering with the “Tout droit vers le droit” program was Nadine Tawdy’s first volunteer experience with OJEN. She helped deliver this career modelling program to racialized, French-speaking middle school students during the 2024-25 school year. As the school year wrapped up, we asked her to share her impressions of the program. “I think this program […]
Spotlight on our Strategic Plan Engage youth directly to increase the diversity of youth served OJEN’s Justice Education Fellowship (JEF) program, launched in 2017, offers Law and Paralegal students training and experience delivering Public Legal Education (PLE) for youth. Since its inception, more than 70 students have learned about OJEN’s unique approach to PLE and […]
In 2023, OJEN adopted a strategic plan to guide our organizational activities toward our 25th anniversary in 2027. It builds on OJEN’s recognized strengths while identifying opportunities to make a greater impact. The plan includes 5 broad areas of focus: Engage youth directly to increase the diversity of youth served. Listen, learn and seek guidance […]
