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Vanessa is the Director of Legal Services and a staff lawyer at West Scarborough Community Legal Services. She has over 15 years of experience providing legal services to marginalized communities in Toronto and Vancouver. Vanessa’s legal practice is focused on representing clients with respect to the Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Programs and she has represented hundreds of clients before the Social Benefits Tribunal. She brings a client-centered approach to her work developed through the joint JD/MSW program at the University of Toronto. She is a practicum supervisor with the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. Vanessa has a passion for policy work in income maintenance, disability rights and inclusion, and access to justice fostered through participation in Maytree Policy School. She Co Chairs the legal clinic system’s Steering Committee on Social Assistance and works alongside lived experts and allies on social assistance advocacy work. Vanessa has completed a Non-Profit Management Certificate through Simon Fraser University and served for five years on the board of South Riverdale Community Health Centre.