For all education-related inquiries (including speaking engagements), please get in touch with our Director of Education Pam Glatt pglatt@innocencecanada.com.

Please note, we are not currently taking on new volunteers but are happy to put you in touch with some of the wonderful organization we partner with.

Student Programs

Students are an integral part of the work we do at Innocence Canada! We are proud to facilitate a variety of in-person and virtual opportunities for students across the country – hands-on casework experience as well as specialized educational programming on wrongful convictions. As we re-position ourselves in a post-covid world, our current opportunities are limited to law students. However, in the coming months we will be expanding our student opportunities beyond law students.

Educators – if you’re interested in setting up a specific student program with us, please get in touch with Director of Education.

Students – below is an overview of our current student programs. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with our Director of Education. 

Articling

Innocence Canada is able to hire one articling student per year through the support of the Law Foundation of Ontario’s Public Interest Articling Fellowship Program. Note that Innocence Canada follows the Toronto articling recruit timeline and guidelines as set out by the Law Society of Ontario.

Innocence Canada articling students assist in reviewing claims of wrongful conviction and, where applicable, in preparing for the litigation of those claims. This work includes managing case files, preparing legal research, and working collaboratively with Innocence Canada staff and pro-bono lawyers in the development of strategies for pursuing claims of wrongful conviction.

We are currently recruiting an articling student for 2024-25. 

You can find all the details in the posting linked here, however you must submit your application through ViRecruit. For any questions regarding our articling position, please reach out to our Director of Education, Pam Glatt pglatt@innocencecanada.com. Application deadline is June 30th

Our 2022-23 articling student is Stacey Seward

Stacey Seward graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2022, where she fostered a passion for criminal defence and advocating for the wrongfully convicted during a year-long clinical placement with the school’s Innocence Project. She was a recipient of the Ian Scott Public Interest Award, which allowed her to continue this important work and education through a fellowship with Innocence Canada. She is delighted to return as an articling student.

 Stacey also holds a Bachelor of Journalism (honours) degree, with a combined honours in political science from the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A zealous researcher and storyteller with a love for the written word, she worked as a freelance print journalist for some time.

Before university, she lived mainly in her hometown, St. John’s, Newfoundland, where she worked as a bartender and was involved in many creative and musical communities, ranging from punk rock to traditional folk music.

Coming from a background where resources are often scarce, public interest work is of the upmost importance to Stacey. She strongly believes that neither systemic issues, nor a lack of financial resources, should preclude anybody from obtaining meaningful justice. She is immensely grateful for the opportunity to do work that aligns with this maxim.

Summer Fellowships

Our summer fellowships are open to law students across Canada. We currently offer two types of fellowships

  1. Casework fellowship: students work solely on casework (ie. assisting with 696.1 applications, evidence review, etc) under the supervision of our Legal Director. This fellowship is hybrid and based out of Toronto.
  2. Public legal education fellowship: students work on educational initiatives under the supervision of our Director of Education. This fellowship is remote and open to students across the country.

Thank you to everyone who applied for our summer fellowships this year. Applications are now closed for summer 2023. 

Externships

We currently run two externships programs – one with Osgoode’s Innocence Project and one with the University of Toronto. Our externships are 8 months in length (a full academic year), and the workload ranges from 3-5 hours per week. Throughout their externships, students engage in casework (ie. assisting with 696.1 applications, evidence review, etc) as well as attend educational programming on wrongful convictions (ie. guest speakers such as exonerees).

For more information – Osgoode students please get in touch with Lisa Johnson, and for U of T students please get in touch with Sara Flaherty.