To plead for, or support a person or issue. Some advocacy services assist individuals with problems such as consumer issues, rental problems, welfare appeals; other advocacy groups aim to influence public policy or push for changes in the system or society in general.
Canada/Federal
The Commissioner is an advocate for the privacy rights of Canadians and her powers include: Investigating complaints, conducting audits and pursuing court action under two federal laws - Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA); Publicly reporting on the personal information-handling practices of public and private sector organizations; Supporting, undertaking and publishing research into privacy issues; and Promoting public awareness and understanding of privacy issues.
PovNet is an internet site for advocates, people on welfare, and community groups and individuals involved in anti-poverty work. It provides up-to-date information about welfare and housing laws and resources in British Columbia and Canada. PovNet is a national site with training and resources available for intermediaries across the country.
The Institute’s mission is to contribute to the public, the legal profession, and the Supreme Court of Canada by increasing the effectiveness and quality of advocacy before the Court.The principal activity of the Institute is to provide free, non-partisan advocacy advice to a party’s lawyer who is scheduled to appear in an appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada.The Institute is a registered charity and is intended as a public service.
The Taxpayers' Ombudsman is an independent and impartial officer who reviews complaints from people who believe they have been treated unfairly or unprofessionally by the Canada Revenue Agency. Website includes information about the eight service rights of taxpayers, tips for taxpayers, how to make a complaint and frequently asked questions about the service.
A project of the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, the purpose of this guide is to harness the citizens’ ability to prevent pollution. Citizens can prevent pollution through individual actions, consumer behaviour, and by applying pressure on industrial and commercial operations, and institutions (e.g., our governments) to practice the principles of pollution prevention. (PDF – 48 pages, 2005)
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is a centre within the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law devoted to advocacy, research and education in the areas of constitutional rights in Canada. The Centre aims to play a vital role in articulating Canada's constitutional vision to the broader world. The cornerstone of the Centre is a legal clinic that brings together students, faculty and members of the bar to work on significant constitutional cases and advocacy initiatives
International
The Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) is an international, multi-generational, feminist, creative, future-orientated membership organization committed to achieving gender equality, sustainable development and women's human rights. AWID’s work is structured through multi-year programs known as Strategic Initiatives. Each strategic initiative includes a range of activities from membership consultations and surveys, primary research and dialogues with policy makers (including targeted advocacy) to capacity building institutes, regional networking and information dissemination. In addition, AWID works to ensure that the specific priorities and voices of young women are strongly represented in all our initiatives.
WITNESS trains and supports activists and citizens around the world to use video safely, ethically, and effectively to expose human rights abuse and fight for human rights change. Projects include Critical response, Technology advocacy, Video as evidence, Video archiving and Training. Their Human Rights Channel project provides access to citizen video verification and curation resources.
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