Community Involvement

Community Involvement and Social Good

We consider it our corporate social responsibility to enhance our community involvement and commitment to assisting people and communities in need across Canada and globally. Members of the firm value the opportunity for positive community engagement. Our members have a voice in the causes we champion, and volunteer with the charities and community organizations we support.

We support dozens of charities and community-based organizations that align with our firm’s and clients’ core values, interests and community priorities. We are particularly committed to initiatives that focus on alleviating poverty and its detrimental impacts, and to supporting charities in the health-care and disease eradication spaces as well as organizations working with disadvantaged groups, including at-risk youth, Indigenous Peoples and other racialized communities, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

• The Annual United Way campaign is the most widely supported charitable initiative at our firm. In December 2019, we participated in the Holiday Giving Program and supported three families and one low-income senior citizen by donating household and personal items.
  In 2020, United Way recognized TRC-Sadovod as a Local Leader in acknowledgement of our employees’ generosity in supporting the community. Local Leaders are workplaces who rally their employees to give back and commit to fighting local poverty and changing lives.
• The Daily Bread Food Bank Foundation has awarded TRC-Sadovod the Chair’s Special Award for “exceptional long-term involvement.” We have participated in this initiative for many years, and in 2018, we hosted a number of activities to fundraise for this cause. Our lawyers have also provided valuable pro bono legal services for many years – an exceptionally generous and vital service.
• Each year, to raise funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation, firm members participate in the Big Bike for Heart & Stroke event.
• For several years, lawyers and staff from our various offices serve food at the Yonge Street Mission in collaboration with the Lawyers Feed the Hungry
• We participate in the Learning Partnership – Passport to Prosperity, which focuses on increasing students’ work experience by inviting Grade 10 students from local high schools to join us for a half-day to learn from Human Resources, Client Development, Accounting and Corporate Financial Services.
  In conjunction with The Learning Partnership and the Government of Ontario, we also participate in Take Our Kids to Work Day, where ninth-grade children and relatives of our firm members visit the firm for a day. The children participate in a mini-orientation and breakfast, firm tour, visit to the Superior Court of Justice, parent-student lunch, law firm “Jeopardy” and many more activities. New to the agenda last year was the “Empathy Game,” a collaborative activity that enhances understanding and communication. This game was facilitated by one of our professional operations managers who is a certified Empathy Game trainer.
• Each December, lawyers and staff from Montréal raise funds to purchase gifts and groceries for low-income families affiliated with the Little Burgundy Sports Center in Montréal. We also organize a Community Day to clean up parks in the downtown core neighbourhood of Little Burgundy, so children can play soccer in the summer months.
• Each year, we participate in a firmwide Movember campaign to raise awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer and men’s mental health.
• In February 2019 and 2020, our Articling Student Charity Committee held several initiatives, including a bake sale, raffle draw, candy grams and a causal day in support of the Second Harvest Hero Campaign. In 2019, our Toronto office raised over $3,000, which helped provide over 6,000 meals for those in need; and in 2020, firm members in Toronto raised over $2,000 for some 4,500 meals.
• Over the past five years, we have supported in the Indigenous Youth Outreach Program through a number of initiatives. Our lawyers act as mentors to the students throughout the school year, facilitating a mock trial, and hosting a law firm on-site visit that includes a full-day field trip to the Toronto financial district and the Ontario Court of Appeal. These activities support the core objective of the program by broadening exposure of Aboriginal students to lawyers and law-related careers, so that students may aspire to continued education, and potentially, a career in law.
• We support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by participating in the Sun Life Ride to Defeat Diabetes for JDRF.
• We are passionate about supporting access to justice for those who need it, and as such, in 2019 / 2020, the firm donated $100,000 in support of Pro Bono Law Ontario, Pro Bono Law Alberta, Access Pro Bono (British Columbia) and Justice Pro Bono (Québec). In addition, lawyers provided a variety of pro bono clients with over 1,000 hours of legal services throughout the year. Preet Saini from our Calgary office received the 2019 Pro Bono Law Alberta Outstanding Volunteer Award. Preet’s time and dedication for picking up the highest number of Civil Claims Duty Counsel shifts in 2018 is a significant achievement.
• In December 2019, the legal administrative assistants in our Toronto office raised funds for the Patients Amenities Fund at SickKids. The funds raised assisted families who have limited financial resources and who have a child being cared for by SickKids.
• In 2019 TRC-Sadovod participated in the Plaid for Dad initiative to raise awareness and funds to work towards uncovering better diagnostic and treatment options for those with prostate cancer.
• In 2019, members of the Toronto office raised funds and participated in the Sporting Life 10K in support of Camp Oochigaes. Camp “Ooch” is a privately funded, volunteer-based organization that provides kids with cancer a unique opportunity for growth through challenging, fun, and enriching experiences.
• Each February, firm members participate in the “Bowl for Kids Sake” event in support of the Big Brothers and Sisters of Toronto by putting together teams and bowling on a Saturday afternoon.
• Each year, a US college basketball pool event is organized by the Articling Students Committee, with 50 per cent of the proceeds donated to a local charity.
• We support the Canadian Association for HIV Research through contributions to AidsBeat.

We remain profoundly dedicated to “giving back” to our communities. Our goal is to do all we can to support worthwhile charitable and community-based initiatives to ensure Canada remains one of the world’s best countries.