The Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest, in partnership with Queen's Faculty of Law and the Queen’s Law Clinics, receives funding from The Law Foundation of Ontario to build local, Indigenous-focused legal services.
The Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest (KNCLN) has been awarded a $179,000 grant through The Law Foundation of Ontario’s Responsive Grant Program. The funding will support collaborative research by KNCLN and Queen’s Law on wise practices for Indigenous legal services, justice support, legal education, and the resurgence of Indigenous laws in the Kingston area.
Under the project, KNCLN will also be able to establish no-barrier legal services to members of the local Indigenous community as of September 2025, facilitated through an Indigenous articling student under the supervision of the Queen’s Law Clinics.This funding marks the first step to establishing an Indigenous legal clinic in Kingston to serve our vibrant community. It also formalizes the growing partnership among the Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest, Queen’s Law, and the Queen’s Law Clinics, which have been working together to realize the vision for local Indigenous-led legal education and services for the past year and a half.
About The Law Foundation of Ontario:
The Law Foundation of Ontario has been advancing access to justice since 1974. Through granting and collaboration, the Foundation invests in knowledge and services that help people understand the law and use it to improve their lives. The Foundation also administers the Class Proceedings Fund, which provides cost assistance in class actions. Learn more at www.lawfoundation.on.ca.
Responsive grants fund community-led initiatives by non-profits, charities, and Indigenous groups that are working to improve access to justice for the people of Ontario. Responsive grants aim to encourage new projects that fill existing legal gaps, supplement existing services, or otherwise help address emerging needs by connecting more people to legal information and support, especially people who are not currently being reached.
Organizational Partners:
The Kingston Native Centre and Language Nest (KNCLN) is a provincially funded Indigenous Friendship Centre, ratified under the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres(OFIFC). To fulfill our mandate in the provision of culturally grounded programs and services to members of the Indigenous community in our urban center, we work closely with our community partners. This is work we cannot do alone, and we believe we are always better together.
Located in Kingston, Ontario, Queen’s Law is a premier Canadian Law School committed to reconciliation and Indigenous legal advocacy. KNCLN has been grateful to develop this project alongside Dean Colleen M. Flood and Assistant Dean, JD Program Karla McGrath, with Indigenous leadership and guidance from Professor Lindsay Borrows and Professor Kimberly Murray, Queen’s National Scholar in Indigenous Legal Studies.
For over 50 years, the Queen’s Law Clinics have provided professional, multifaceted, free legal services to local residents. Located in downtown Kingston in the Lasalle Mews Plaza, Queen’s Law Clinics operate under the leadership of Executive Director Blair Crew and offer legal services in the areas of business law, family law, elder law, poverty law, and prison law.
Media Contact
For more information on this project, members of the media may contact Constance Carrière-Prill, Director – Strategic Development at: Constance.CP@KNCLN.ca.
Photo left to right: Blair Crew, Executive Director, Queen's Law Clinics; Colleen M. Flood, Dean, Queen's Law; Constance Carrière-Prill, Director - Strategic Development KNCLN, JD Candidate, Queen's Law; Brandon Maracle, Executive Director, KNCLN; Lindsay Borrows, Assistant Professor (Indigenous Law), Queen's Law; Karla McGrath, Assistant Dean, JD Program, Queen's Law.