Volunteerism fuels class action at the landlord tenant board.

• Author: Girard, Eric C.
• Position: Landlord and Tenant Law

"I couldn't raise my children here, there were mice, cockroaches ... every day. I accepted this as part of my life for too long. What changed was a light went on in my head, and I realized that this was not right. "

--Fatima

Fatima is one of nearly 25 low-income tenants who decided to take their corporate landlord to court. She is a resident of Ottawa South's Herongate community, a neighborhood of mostly high rise apartment complexes which has an earned reputation for substandard housing and petty crime. Residents here often make complaints that their apartments and townhouses are unfit for habitation and that their landlords often fail to make the necessary repairs or treat mice and cockroach infestations.

In January of 2012 CBC Marketplace ran an investigative report on one of the Herongate neighborhood's biggest landlords, Transglobe REIT. Titled, "Trouble for Rent" the CBC alleged that Transglobe engaged in systemic negligence in the management of their properties. Transglobe's tenants complained that their requests for repair were often ignored. These complaints varied, from minor issues like a broken tile, to very serious problems such as mold in a child's bedroom. The reporters visited a Herongate resident's apartment and were shown two broken windows. The reporters simply shook their heads when they learned that the woman had complained repeatedly to management. After the CBC report, not much changed for Herongate's residents. In fact, most tenants said that things got worse.

At the same time George Brown and Ottawa ACORN were organizing behind the scenes for what would prove to be a more effective campaign. ACORN is a not-for- profit organization that had been organizing tenants to press both the City and the landlords for healthier homes and greater accountability. ACORN's Ottawa chapter is headed by Jill O'Rielly, a community organizer with almost limitless energy. George Brown is an Ottawa-based lawyer and former city councillor reminiscent of Studs Terkel's "roll up your sleeves" community work. George enlisted the help of two young lawyers, Derek Shroeder and Oriana Polit, and a small group of University of Ottawa law students, to force Transglobe and Herongate's other landlords to repair their properties by bringing them to court.

In January of this year the volunteer group held its first legal clinic at the Herongate Community Centre. More than forty tenants braved the cold to tell the group of law students their stories of...