Our Vision


We envision Northumberland County as a place where all individuals have adequate resources to meet their basic needs and are empowered to participate in self-determined, meaningful ways within an equitable, just, and compassionate community.

The Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland seeks to bring about its mission in partnership with the Northumberland United Way, Legal Aid Ontario, and Northumberland Labour Council, as well as other organizations which share in the vision of the organization.

Strategic Directions 

• Ensure Programs are accessible, relevant, efficient, and aligned to community needs.
• Ensure staff and volunteers are prepared and supported in a positive environment.
• Secure and grow necessary funding

What The Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland (THLCN) Provides in Northumberland County

For over 40 years, The Help Centre; and then more recently together with the Northumberland Community Legal Centre, THLCN has provided services to thousands of individuals from Northumberland Country. Just in the last year, THLCN provided more than 14,000 units of social support and legal services – all at no cost to clients. Our service breakdown for the Northumberland Community Legal Centre and The Help Centre, are as follows:

A sample of services provided by the Northumberland Community Legal Centre (NCLC) this year:

• Over 5,000 requests for legal advice
• Opening 625 files for legal representation
• Closing more than 680 legal files, returning over $2 million to our clients and the Northumberland County community

A sample of services provided by The Help Centre (THC) this year:

• Filing more than 1,200 individual income tax returns, bringing almost $4 million back to our clients and the Northumberland County community
• Providing housing supports, referrals and advocacy to almost 600 clients
• Supporting 350 Seniors in collaboration with other local agencies to ensure their needs are met
• Assisting more than 350 clients with energy grant information and applications.

In addition to helping our clients, we also renovated our office space as a result of a generous Ontario Trillium Foundation Grant. The grant allowed us to:

• Expand our office space to better serve our clients and staff’s needs, including improved health and safety design, and ventilation
• Widen hallways to ensure AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) compliance
• Provide a much-needed meeting room with assistive technology especially important for clients who lack Internet access in their homes, and
• Create a dedicated “hearing” room with online access that will accommodate clients who are required to attend remote legal hearings.

And, it appears that the upcoming year is going to be similarly busy. While COVID may have calmed down, Canada is still feeling its effects with living costs continuing to rise (rent, food, fuel, mortgage rates, etc.) and many in the community find themselves requiring support for a wide variety of personal issues. The Help and Legal Centre of Northumberland is pleased and proud to continue to be a resource for Northumberland County and its residents.

For details of its good works in 2023, please click here to read our Annual Report 2023