Contact Us

 

Our office hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

HALCO is a charitable not-for-profit community-based legal clinic that provides free legal services for people living with HIV/AIDS in Ontario, Canada.

For more information about getting legal help from HALCO, please contact us.

HALCO also provides a variety of other services including public legal education, community development and law reform activities – please visit Our Services for more information.

COVID-19 Update

In response to the spread of COVID-19, we have altered our service delivery approach. We will continue to be open for intake for new inquiries on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (9 am – 5 pm) , and we will continue to provide services to ongoing clients. However, to do our utmost to ensure the health and safety of all, we have decided, until further notice, the following:

  1. To meet with clients in person only by appointment.; and
  2. To limit our participation in meetings and public legal education activities in person.

HALCO staff will be taking a hybrid work approach, splitting their time between working in the office and working from outside the office.  We ask that people not visit our office, but contact us via phone (416-340-7790 / 1-888-705-8889). Please note that we have historically done the majority of our client work via phone, due to our provincial mandate. As a result, the quality of service will not diminish.

As the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to change, we will alter our approach as required. We will take an evidence-based approach and continue to fight against stigma/discrimination while working to address the concerns of equity-seeking groups, including people living with HIV, Indigenous persons, racialized individuals and those with low incomes.

Intake Hours for New Inquiries

Our intake hours for new inquiries are Monday  and Wednesday, and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We do not take new inquiries on Tuesday or Thursday. Please see our Contact Us  page for more information about getting legal help.

Office Hours

Our office hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  (closed on government/public holidays). For new inquiries, please see intake hours above. Our general voicemail box is monitored Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Confidentiality

Your privacy is very important to us. HALCO follows the client confidentiality rules of the Law Society of Ontario.

Scent-reduced Environment

HALCO is a scent-reduced environment so please avoid wearing scents or fragrances when coming to our office.

image: We need prosecutorial guidelines

HALCO – HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario
Phone: 416-340-7790 or
toll-free in Ontario 1-888-705-8889
55 University Avenue, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario, Canada  M5J 2H7                  (signs in building say “HALCO”)
FAX: 416-340-7248
email: talklaw@halco.org

Please note that when you enter our address including our suite number (55 University Avenue, Suite 1400) on the internet, our full legal name of HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario will likely appear. If you want to reduce the chances of our name appearing in full, please use only 55 University Avenue when searching for our address or looking for directions to our office.

IMPORTANT – If you contact us by email:

  1. The internet is not private.  Email may be blocked or slow to arrive.
  2. Sending us an email does not mean that we are helping you or will be able to help you.
  3. You will not be our client and we will not act for you until we have an agreement with you.
  4. Unless we are already helping you with your legal matter, any information that you send to us will not be considered confidential. Even if we have helped you about other legal matters before, you should not send confidential information to us about new legal matters until we have agreed to advise you.
  5. HALCO follows the client confidentiality rules of the Law Society of Ontario.
  6. We suggest that you contact us by phone or drop in during our intake hours.

HALCO pamphlet cover image 2019HALCO pamphlet

Our HALCO information pamphlet is available in print and on-line. Almost everything that you might want to know about HALCO is in one pamphlet.  You can view our HALCO pamphlet on-line: https://www.halco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HALCO_pamphlet.pdf.  Please contact us if you would like to request print copies of our pamphlet.

HALCO Strategic Plan and Annual Reports

Our Strategic Plan 2017-2022 and Annual Reports provide information about HALCO and are available on the About Us page of our website.

HALCO Accessibility, Transit and Parking information

wheelchair symbol

For information about accessibility, transit and parking please see our HALCO Accessibility Information page, our HALCO Accessibility, Transit and Parking Information document in pdf document format and word document format, or contact us.

First Nations Acknowledgment

HALCO acknowledges that since time immemorial the land on which we work has been the home and traditional territory of Indigenous Peoples, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. We are here as guests and we are grateful to our hosts today and every day. Please see our Commitment to Reconciliation.

 

Our office hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We provide free legal services for people living with HIV in Ontario, Canada. Anyone living with HIV in Ontario can contact us about any legal issue.

COVID-19 Update

In response to the spread of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), we have altered our service delivery approach. We will continue to be open for intake for new inquiries on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (9 am-5 pm), and we will continue to provide services to ongoing clients. However, to do our utmost to ensure the health and safety of all, we have decided, until further notice, the following:

  • To limit our meetings with clients in person; and
  • To limit our participation in meetings and public legal education activities in person.

HALCO staff will be taking a hybrid work approach, splitting their time between working in the office and working from outside the office. We ask that people not visit our office, but contact us via phone (416-340-7790 / 1-888-705-8889). Please note that we have historically done the majority of our client work via phone, due to our provincial mandate. As a result, the quality of service will not diminish.

As the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to change, we will alter our approach as required. We will take an evidence-based approach and continue to fight against stigma/discrimination while working to address the concerns of equity-seeking groups, including people living with HIV, Indigenous persons, racialized individuals and those with low incomes.

__________________________________________

Our office is at 55 University Avenue, Suite 1400 (14th Floor), Toronto, Ontario, M5J 2H7 (just south of King Street West and the fully accessible St. Andrew subway station). The signs in the building say “HALCO” only not HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic.

Our office hours are Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed on government/public holidays). We take new inquiries for legal advice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We do not take new inquiries on Tuesday or Thursday. Our general voicemail box at extension 0 is monitored Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Please scroll down to HALCO Intake Process for New Inquiries for more information about getting help from HALCO.  Please see Our Services page for more general information about getting legal help.

HALCO – HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario
Phone: 416-340-7790 or
toll-free in Ontario 1-888-705-8889
55 University Avenue, Suite 1400
Toronto, Ontario, Canada   M5J 2H7              (signs in the building say “HALCO”)
FAX: 416-340-7248
email: talklaw@halco.org

Please note that when you enter our address including our suite number (55 University Avenue, Suite 1400) on the internet, our full legal name of HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario will likely appear. If you want to reduce the chances of our name appearing in full, please use only 55 University Avenue when searching for our address or looking for directions to our office.

Google Maps link

https://goo.gl/maps/ZxR1sYGTp1J2

IMPORTANT – If you contact us by email:

  1. The internet is not private.  Email may be blocked or slow to arrive.
  2. Sending us an email does not mean that we are helping you or will be able to help you.
  3. You will not be our client and we will not act for you until we have an agreement with you.
  4. Unless we are already helping you with your legal matter, any information that you send to us will not be considered confidential. Even if we have helped you about other legal matters before, you should not send confidential information to us about new legal matters until we have agreed to advise you.
  5. HALCO follows the client confidentiality rules of the Law Society of Ontario. (The Law Society of Ontario was formerly the Law Society of Upper Canada.)
  6. We suggest that you contact us by phone or drop in during our intake hours.

HALCO Intake Process for New Inquiries

Anyone living with HIV in Ontario can call us for free legal advice about any legal issue (it does not have to relate to HIV) at 416-340-7790 or toll-free 1-888-705-8889. The person who has the legal question or issue should be the one to contact us. Interpreters are available. There is no financial eligibility for our legal advice service. When you call us about a new legal issue, we will go through our intake process with you.

We take new inquiries for legal advice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We do not take new inquiries on Tuesday or Thursday. Our general voicemail box at extension 0 is monitored Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

You do not need an appointment for intake but depending on how busy we are, you may have to wait to speak with the lawyer on intake.

Many legal matters have time limits called “limitation periods”.  Please contact us as soon as you have a question or problem so that we can have enough time to try to help.

Through our intake process, our staff will ask you questions and may:

  • provide legal advice
  • provide a brief service
  • help you to represent yourself
  • represent you for your case, and/or
  • provide a referral to other services.

Sometimes we may not be able to help or we may not be able to get the result that you would like.

We welcome your feedback and we also have a Complaint Process if you are not satisfied with our services.

Languages

We provide services in English.  Some of our staff speak other languages, including French and Spanish.  We can arrange for interpretation services including telephone interpretation.

Confidentiality

Your privacy is very important to us.  HALCO follows the client confidentiality rules of the Law Society of Ontario (formerly the Law Society of Upper Canada).

Scent-Reduced Environment

HALCO is a scent-reduced environment so please avoid wearing scents or fragrances when coming to our office.

HALCO Accessibility, Transit and Parking information Wheelchair symbol

For information about accessibility, transit and parking at our HALCO office, please visit our Accessibility Information page, or download our HALCO Accessibility, Transit and Parking Information document in pdf document format and word document format.

HALCO pamphlet cover image 2019HALCO pamphlet

Our HALCO information pamphlet is available in print and on-line. Almost everything that you might want to know about HALCO is in one pamphlet.  You can view our HALCO pamphlet on-line: https://www.halco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/HALCO_pamphlet.pdf.  Please contact us if you would like to request print copies of our pamphlet.

Other Ontario Community Legal Clinics

Community legal clinics provide free legal services to people across Ontario.  HALCO’s community is people living with HIV in Ontario. Legal clinics are independent not-for-profit organizations with volunteer Boards of Directors.  There are two types of community legal clinics:

  • General/local community legal clinics that provide services to people in the clinic’s local community, and,
  • Specialty community legal clinics, like HALCO, that provide services to a particular group of people or in a particular area of law.

You can contact your local community legal clinic to find out about services in your community.  You can find your local community legal clinic as well as specialty legal clinics using the Legal Aid Ontario website: https://www.legalaid.on.ca/services/legal-clinics/.

You can visit Our Services page for more information about other legal services in Ontario.

First Nations Acknowledgment

HALCO acknowledges that since time immemorial the land on which we work has been the home and traditional territory of Indigenous Peoples, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. We are here as guests and we are grateful to our hosts today and every day. Please see our Commitment to Reconciliation.