Local law firm provides ARIS (Atlantic Refugee and Immigrant Services) Project with summer help

by Maritime
Categories: News Archive
Share:

    Caption: Andrew Nicol, a law student at Dalhousie University, will be helping out with the ARIS Project this summer thanks to a program offered by local law firm BoyneClarke. Pictured, from left to right, Marie Kettle, ARIS Project coordinator; Andrew Nicol; George Ashe, BoyneClarke; and Andrew Wilson, The Salvation Army.

    Thanks to a program offered by local law firm BoyneClarke, The Salvation Army’s Atlantic Refugee and Immigrant Services Project (ARIS) can continue to offer pro-bono assistance to new Canadians in need throughout the busy summer months.

    The Dartmouth firm’s Summer Student Program has paired-up Dalhousie law student Andrew Nicol with The Salvation Army ARIS Project for the next 12 weeks, giving the program a qualified resource to help with immigrant and refugee applications.

    Run out of The Salvation Army’s Spryfield Family Resource Centre, ARIS helps newcomers to Canada wade through the complex and sometimes confusing sea of paperwork that comes with immigration issues. This can include assisting with citizenship applications, humanitarian and compassionate applications and spousal sponsorship applications. The program also helps with more tangible needs like finding temporary shelter and scheduling medical appointments. Refugees and immigrants who can’t afford to go to an immigration lawyer and do not have other recourse are the clientele that ARIS serves.

    During his stint with ARIS, Nicol will be tasked with meeting refugee and immigration clients and assisting them with complicated immigration applications.

    Project coordinator Marie Kettle was looking forward to what the assistance would mean for ARIS’s capacity.

    “During the school year, pro bono law students from Dalhousie University help out with immigrants who need assistance with their forms, but during the summer period there are no students available, so having a student here for 12 weeks paid by a law firm, will really help with the workload of referrals that usually come to us in the summertime.”

    Initiated a number of years ago by BoyneClarke partner Gordon Proudfoot, the Summer Student Program is just one of the ways that the firm gives back to the community.

    “It’s a great way for us to let the community know we care,” says George Ash, a partner at BoyneClarke. “Essentially we hire summer students between their second and third year, we don’t really bring them into the office, other than a bit of mentoring, and then they go and work for a not-for-profit or organization that needs assistance.

    “Personally, it’s something that I’ve always grown up with, as my parents always had me out doing things when I was young. It’s nice to be part of a firm that has the same type of culture.”

    For Nicol, the chance to provide front-line assistance is an exciting prospect.

    “When I was applying to different law firms, this program and the chance to work with a community organization is what stood out to me about BoyneClarke,” he says. “When I found out about ARIS, I had two friends at the law school who did some volunteer work here, and it sounded like it was really hands-on work, and really important work too. Dealing face-to-face with clients who don’t have the income necessary to obtain legal assistance and often come from very difficult situations – to be able to help out with that is something that I’m really looking forward to.”

    For more information on the program, CLICK HERE to visit BoyneClarke’s website.