Since its inception in 1999, SALCO has relied on sporadic funding to keep its office running. The Davisville Village-based clinic offers a variety of legal services to low-income South Asian-Canadians across the city. The clinic works with clients in their native tongues and remains sensitive to the differences between Canadian and South Asian cultures while delving into family, employment, criminal and other areas of law.

The funding announcement, which guaranteed stable and consistent funding for the first time in the clinic's history, came not a day too soon.

"Our funding was coming to an end in August and frankly, we would have had to start letting clients go," said Prakash David, chair of SALCO's board of directors. "We always said that if we didn't get funding by July 30, we'd start closing files. The funding came through on June 29."

The funding was announced at SALCO's offices last Thursday, with Attorney General Michael Bryant (St. Paul's) and Legal Aid Ontario chair John McCamus on hand to help deliver the news to those in attendance. Along with the funding promises, SALCO gained standing as the 80th community legal clinic under the Legal Aid Ontario umbrella.

"We're delighted that we now have a clinic that's quite focused on the South Asian community and we know this clinic plays a very, very important role in meeting the needs of that community," McCamus said.

Bryant said the hard work and determination of SALCO workers and those who have benefited from its services helped the clinic in its quest for stable funding.

"They provide stable, fantastic services and the dedication of the people who work here, combined with the government's ability to provide funding, made it possible for this day to finally come," he said.

SALCO will receive $300,000 for the upcoming year, $521,000 in 2008-'09 and $538,000 per year thereafter from Legal Aid Ontario. David said the funds would allow the clinic, which currently consists of four staff members, to double its resources and bring its services out into the community.

"We want to remain central in Toronto, but we're looking at new spaces and looking at having satellite operations so we can go out across the city," he said. "The South Asian community is spread throughout the GTA, from Scarborough to Milton and beyond."

The clinic will remain in its current location at 1992 Yonge St. for the time being. For more information on SALCO and its services, call 416-487-6371 or visit www.salc.net.

The Need for SALCO

According to Statistics Canada data, Toronto's South Asian community more than doubled from 1991 to 2001, from 235,500 people to 473,800. The figures, released in 2003, showed the group accounted for 28 per cent of all visible minorities in Toronto.

Just more than 34 per cent of South Asian families in Toronto live in low-income households, including more than half of all Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan and Tamil families.

Among Toronto lawyers, only 2.6 per cent are South Asian, highlighting the need for a culturally sensitive clinic.